■flBSlfiSSf 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




^ 



THE 



WORD AND THE TEACHER; 



OR, 



BIBLE THOUGHTS ABOUT CREATION, 



AS SEEN IN GENESIS. 



And He was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood : and His name 
is called The Word of God. Rev. xix. 13. 

Howbeit, when He, the Spirit of Truth is come, He will guide you 
into all truth. JOHN xvi. 13. 



^ 



By ZeJ^^H:. J?$t«J*^ 



BOSTON: 

WTLiXiA-RX) TRACT REPOSITORY, 

No. 12 West Street. 



.vhf 



Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1873, 

By CHARLES CULLIS, 

In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 



Press of T. R. Marvin & Son, 
Boston. 



PUBLISHED AS 



& fHemorfal ©tft to t^e Constnnpttucs' p?mne, 



FOUNDED IN BOSTON, A.D. 1864, 



AS A WORK OF FAITH. 



MAY OUR LORD JESUS GRANT THAT THESE WORDS 

OF WEAKNESS BE RAISED IN POWER, IN 

THE HEARTS OF THOSE WHO SEEK 

THE TRUTH OF GOD. 





CONTENTS, 



INTRODUCTION. 



PAGE 
. 7 



DAY OR AGE OEON) ONE. 

CHRIST THE WORD. . . . -r- 15 

In the Beginning- 16 

The Divine Wisdom or Memra 13 

Heaven and Earth 20 

The Earth was without Form and Void 32 

The Spirit of God moved 34 

God said, Let there be Light * 36 

God saw that it was Good 38 

God divided the Light from the Darkness 38 

DAY OH AGE (MS) SECOND. 

CHRIST THE WAY 45 

The Witness of the Word. — The Holy Spirit, or Teacher of 

Truth 46 

The Gospel of the Holy Ghost, or The Book of Acts. ... 49 

The Firmament 50 

v 



CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

The Way of At-One Ment 52 

The Way of Redemption, or Christ the Sin-Bearer 55 

And a Highway shall be There 59 



DAY OR AGE GEON) THIRD. 

CHRIST OUR REDEEMER. . 65 

The Rock of Ages 65 

The Mountain of God. — The Historic Record 72 

The Prophetic Record 77 

The Gospel Record 81 

And God saw that it was Good 84 

The Kingdom and Patience of Jesus S5 

And God said, Let the Earth bring forth Grass, and Fruit 

Tree, yielding Fruit after its Kind; and it was so 88 

And the Earth brought forth Tree, yielding Fruit after his 

Kind; and God saw that it was Good 94 

And the Evening and the Morning were the Third Day. ... 98 



DAY OR AGE (.EON) FOURTH. 

CHRIST THE LIGHT 103 

The Dawn or Day-Spring 109 

The Ascended Saviour, the Sun of Righteousness 118 

The Light to rule the Night 120 

To give Light on Earth 133 

Light in the Firmament 141 

He made the Stars also 142 

The Star of the East 145 

The Day-Star 147 

The First-born of many Brethren 147 

Kingdom of Light, or Heaven , 149 

I will give II im the Morning Star 152 

For Signs, for Seasons, Days and Years 153 



CONTENTS. vii 

DAY OR AGE C£0N) FIFTH. 

PAGE 

CHRIST OUR LIFE 159 

And God said, Let the Waters bring forth abundantly. ... 159 

The Growth of the Ages 103 

Life of the Fifth Day 166 

The Life of the Waters 107 

The Wonders of the Great Deep 108 

The Leviathan 109 

The Life of the Air 178 

Scarlet Life-Tide 181 

DAY OR AGE GEON) SIXTH. 

EMMANUEL, GOD WITH US 197 

I am the Good Shepherd 212 

Day One 217 

Day Second ^ 217 

Day Third 218 

Day Fourth 218 

Day Fifth 219 

Day Sixth 219 

Day Seventh 220 

DAY OR AGE GEON) SEVENTH. 

CHRIST OUR REST 227 

The Sabbath of the Soul 227 

All the Hosts of them 228 

It is Finished 229 

The Silence of Rest 233 

The Silence of Death 234 

The Jubilee Trumpet. . . ■, , 242 

" The Number Seven." 247 



l CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

The Seventh Day, or Sabbath of Rest 249 

The Seventh Mon 253 

Paradise 254 

Jehovah 255 

The River 257 

" Every Living Creature.'* 258 

A Help-meet, or Kindred 258 

Now the Serpent was more subtle than any Beast of the 

Field 260 

They heard the Voice of the Lord God, and they hid them- 
selves from the Presence 262 




INTRODUCTION. 



Search the Scriptures. Had ye believed Moses, ye would believe 
me ; for he wrote of me. If ye believe not his writings, how shall 
ye believe my words ? John v. 39, 46. 



The Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost; He shall bring all things 
to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you. 

John xiv. 26. 





THE AYORD AND THE TEACHER. 

(Rev. xix. 13. John xvi. 13.) 

OR 

BIBLE THOUGHTS ABOUT CREATION AS SEEN IN GENESIS. 



INTRODUCTION. 

fei^yX our Saviour's gentle teaching there are 
lyjyi few positive commands ; He seeks to win, 
rather than compel us to enter His kingdom of rest 
and gladness. Among these few we find : " Search 
the Scriptures/' and, as His is always a " reasonable 
service," the reason, too, is given, " for they testify 
of Me." Since His first coming, the world's life 
has quickened into such a rush of development, 
both within and without the Church, that even the 
child of faith may unconsciously be too much 
absorbed in the wonders of the present, — the Chris- 
tian manifestations of to-day, — and become a mere 
gleaner of the experience of others, leaning on and 

(7) 



8 THE WORD AND THE TEACHER. 

looking to that rather than the Word itself. The 
tree of life has burst into such a miracle of bloom, 
that we are apt to stand gazers at the present full- 
ness, rather than to seek, as we should, to trace out 
stately branch and stem to that Itoot far back in 
the ages, and so learn the source and secret of its 
strength as to become thoroughly engrafted into its 
powerful life. 

The future also is absorbing. As the time of 
the second coming draws near, it is the natural 
attitude for the whole Christian Church to stand 
with the beloved Apostle of patience, looking eagerly 
forward beyond the narrow gateways of time, to 
catch the dazzling beams of glory from that eternal 
home which our Saviour has prepared for us, 
where He waits that we, through the faithful use 
of His gifts, may be "perfected" and "thoroughly 
furnished for all good works." Even the babe in 
Christ cannot fail to name these sacred gifts — the 
Word of life, which testifies of Christ, or in other 
words, the Bible, which is the Christ-book ; and 
the Spirit^ at once precious heart-gift of our dying 
Saviour and seal of His triumphant ascension, that 
Spirit of truth who will guide into all truth the 



INTRODUCTION. 9 

seeker, and whose special office is to guide those 
who cherish and cling to, or in Bible phrase, keep 
the Word. 

The mighty Being who sends this Guide, speaks 
to each soul, saying " Search the Scriptures." Shall 
we not obey and find life ? for where Jesus points 
the way there must be blessing. Let us think 
deeply, how His earthly life turns to "what is 
written ; " and when "all the prophets have spoken" 
is finished in the darkness of Calvary's crucifixion, 
we find our Saviour lingering from His ascension 
to heavenly glory and power, that His disciples 
may understand " concerning Himself, all the Scrip- 
ture, beginning at Moses and the Prophets." 

We are warned not to be wise above " what is 
written," but we are constantly urged to feed on 
the Word, to "meditate on it day and night," so 
that we may be wise up to the level of fullness of 
this heaven-sent revelation. It cannot be without 
deep meaning that we are thus turned back from 
the glare of the present, with its whirlwind rush of 
impetuous life, from the fascination of the future, 
to this simple, steadfast record of the unchangeable 
One, who is our Rock, Refuge, and Best. Can we 



10 THE WORD AND THE TEACHER. 

search too earnestly this precious heritage with its 
wealth of covenant promise, this three-fold miracle 
of the Word of life, which makes manifest through 
Christ, the "great I Am; "miraculous in its gift on 
Sinai's mount, miraculous in its preservation, and 
profoundly miraculous in its wide-spread w T ork in 
the world to-day. It is indeed, without the aid of 
the Spirit, the unsearchable riches of Christ, if only 
from its very fullness. 

Prayerfully seeking the-presence of this Guide we 
will not only look at the glimpses of the future as 
shown in the Apocalypse, and see the King of Kings, 
whose name is " the Word of God : " we will 
not only pause in the present Gospel dispensation, 
speaking with Jesus, the Man of Sorrows, as home- 
less He walked the streets of Jerusalem, nor linger 
long with the mystery that surrounds the babe of 
Bethlehem's manger, where " the Word was made 
flesh," and the wise men of the East, the intellect 
of the world, bow in worship : but let the Spirit 
lead us back to the beginning of Revelation, " be- 
fore Abraham was," " before the mountains were 
brought forth," even before time was, and listen 
reverently to the council of the God-head, as written 



INTRODUCTION. 11 

out for us by inspiration. Quickened by the Spirit 
may we so learn, " the Word was God," that we 
realize in some measure the " strength of Him 
with whom we have to do," whose " goings forth 
have been of old, from everlasting," for this strength 
is pledged to us in everlasting covenant of friend- 
ship, by One who has "all power in earth and 
heaven." 



And let our Earth's wild story cease 
Its broken tale of wrong and tears ; 

Come, Lord of Salem, Prince of Peace, 
And bring again our vanish'd years ! 

And with Thy guiding help I pierce, 
Life's labyrinth now no longer vain ; 

The love that frees the universe, 
Hath made its broken story plain. 

And art Thou come with us to dwell, 

Our Prince, our Guide, our Love, our Lord ? 

And is Thy name Emmanuel, 

God present with His world restored ? 



12 INTRODUCTION. 

The heart is glad for Thee ! It knows 
None now shall bid it err or mourn ; 

And o'er its desert breaks the rose 
In triumph o'er the grieving thorn. 

Thy reign eternal will not cease ; 

Thy years are sure, and glad, and slow ; 
Within Thy mighty world of peace 

The humblest flower hath leave to blow. 

Within Thine eye divine I read 

A love exact, a pity sure, 
Minute and tender, taking heed 

Of all that human hearts endure. 

That blends within its mighty scope 
Thy vast design, our feeble plan, 
And brings again each faded hope 

In giving back his God to man. 

Carmina Cruris, by Dora Greenweli* 



DAY FIRST, OR AGE (MOTH) ONE. 



Gen. 1. 1-5. 



"IN THE BEGINNING;" 



%ist t\t mta. 



" God divided the light from the darkness. " 



"^glft^ 



(13) 




CHRIST THE WORD. 



)Mj^>OMING to this earliest record of inspired 
©Sis® revelation, we are taken at once into the very 
heart of nature ; having as a cine one of the first 
verses of the apostolic teachings, (Rom. i. 21,) we 
find that the whole visible world is prepared for 
us, that we may learn of the invisible and eternal 
— a sort of object-teaching from God to His chil- 
dren, that they may come home to Him and be 
saved from self and self's limited ways. (Matt. vi. 
24-34.) 

Looked at in the true light, the whole of nature, 
the changing seasons, even the starry hosts of 
heaven, are unrolled before us simply as a magnifi- 
cent illuminated manuscript, urging us to this 
mighty salvation ; eloquent with the message, " I 
will not call you servants, but friends, for the 
servant knoweth not what his Lord doeth: " urg- 
(15) 



16 THE WORD AND THE TEACHER. 

ing us to deeper communion with the " mind of 
God." 

Carefully comparing Scripture with Scripture, 
we find the myriad thoughts of beauty presented in 
the thirty-four verses which should form the first 
chapter, centre round and resolve themselves into 
a seven- fold picture of " Christ our life," and a 
vivid illustration of the imperative command first 
spoken of : " Search the Scriptures, — they testify 
of Me." 

In the Beginning. (Heb. i. 8-10.) 

In seeking to render some great symphony, the 
musician ponders over the first phrases, which 
make known to him the key-note and motive power 
of the whole ; so, in entering on the glorious har- 
monies of creation, we should dwell attentively on 
the opening sentences, and pausing, before time 
was, with the beginning of the creations of God, 
find ourselves face to face with Christ, who is the 
beginning, (Col. i. 18,) before all things, and by 
whom all things consist. 

In the beginning ! that first foot-hold, rising 
above the mighty floods of timeless eternity, that 
affords resting-place for man, the child of time 



CUBIST THE WORD. 17 

This phrase was used by the early fathers as one of 
the names of Christ, and looking at its Bible associ- 
ations, it assumes this personal character. In this 
sense the sentence : " In the beginning God cre- 
ated/' seems equivalent to or parallel with the 
passage in Ileb. ch. i., 2d and 3d verses: "God 
has spoken to us by His Son, by whom He made 
the worlds, or ages, who is the brightness of His 
glory, and on the right hand of the majesty on 
high, upholds all things by the word of His power," 
that is, by His powerful word. If seeking, with 
St. John, to be in the Spirit, we may hear the voice 
of one made in the likeness of the Son of Man, say- 
ing: " I am the Beginning — and the End," bear- 
ing witness to the truth of the inspired Apostle, 
who said of the Christ, that it pleased the Father 
that in Him should all fullness dwell. 

And again: "I am Alpha and Omega." It is 
by these seemingly insignificant things, the letters 
of the alphabet, that all the world's wisdom must 
be summed up, recorded, or made manifest. All 
earth's intellectual monarchs must submit to their 
sway. Every idea, every thought of man, bears 
their impress. In fact, all communication of man 



18 THE WORD AND TEE TEACHER. 

with man, practically centres in these ; so that the 
first and last of these may be said (as including all 
the others) to span the utmost limit of the world's 
wisdom. The Greek alphabet formed the basis of 
the language of the scholars and philosophers of the 
Christian era, bringing to us, apart from the New 
Testament, some of the grandest monuments of 
human intellect ever possessed by man. So is 
Christ, the crucified, made to us the wisdom and 
power of God; for in Him dwelleth the fullness of 
the God-head bodily, including all human wisdom, 
and passing far beyond our natural understanding. 

The Divine Wisdom or Memra. (Rev. v. 1-3.) 

Among the Hebrew scholars, the sacred wisdom, 
— Memra, or Word, — (equivalent to the Greek 
Logos,) was one of the names of the Messiah, 
whose divine power is poetically described in Prov. 
viii. : " Doth not wisdom call ? " etc. And again 
'in Prov. iii. : " Happy is the man who findeth 
wisdom," etc. 

So spake the wise among the Hebrews of the 
Divine Wisdom, or Word ; the, to them shadowy, 
mysterious Memra, whom they knew, as it were, 



CHRIST THE WORD. 19 

afar off, but in whom they trusted with their whole 
heart, and eagerly gleaned all that was written of 
Him in the law and the prophets. 

We are apt to think of those early Hebrews as 
specially favored, and though, on one hand, we 
cannot but admire their beautiful loyalty to The 
Word, and its splendid results, we wonder, as at 
some strange thing, when we find self-will and 
other forms of selfism prevailing and rendering 
them so indifferent or actually opposed to the truth, 
that even their inspired prophets often die a mar- 
tyr's death. Yet now, when so much of that future 
which their dark sayings shadowed forth, when 
these mysteries of old are written out for us in 
letters of light, so that a child may read ; now, 
when the Word made flesh seeks out each heart and 
mind with its message of life, and love, and glad- 
ness, how many are there among us who heartily 
ci believe the report," so that it becomes a present 
life-power and guide in affairs of daily life? 

Let us hear our Saviour, speaking to those who 
took away the key of knowledge, yet entered not 
in themselves. a Thus saith the Wisdom of God, 
(Luke xi. 49., Matt, xxiii. 34,) I will send prophets 



20 THE WORD AND THE TEACHER. 

and apostles, some of whom they will slay, and their 
blood, shed from the foundation of the world, will 
be required of this generation." This key of 
knowledge was the God-given Word, The gen- 
eration addressed was one, the example of whose 
lives made the Word of little consequence, and 
whose teachings tended to belittle its power. The 
age was one of lukewarmness, an atmosphere in 
which selfish aims and ambitions flourished as 
rank weeds, and stretched out their crude pride 
even to the things of Heaven, obscuring, as far as 
possible, the clear shining of the presence and its 
quickening powers. (Rev. iii. 15, 16.) 

May we of this age and generation, heed the 
warning given in mercy by the wisdom of God, 
and beware of this indifference to the Word, and 
lukewarmness, which is the sin that killed the 
prophets, and the Chief of these prophets, the 
Christ, who is to us the Wisdom of God, and 
beginning and end of prophecy. 

Heaven and Earth. ( Verse 1.) 
From the Beginning, Heaven and Earth blend 
in one, in the thought of God ; through the Bible 



CHRIST TEE WORD. 21 

we find them constantly associated, from the hour 
of creation's dawn, " When the morning stars sang 
together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy," 
until now, when the innumerable host around the 
throne of glory watch with eager interest the race 
that is set before us on earth, waiting, that we may 
come home, (Heb. xii. 1,) and helping us, as 
keepers of the word. (Rev. xii. 9.) 

Throughout the Bible runs the appeal, "Give 
ear, oh ye heavens, and hear, oh earth, the words 
of my mouth ! " Heaven and earth, the invis- 
ible and visible, form one life, and what God hath 
joined, let no man seek to put asunder; yet how 
far do many succeed in putting heaven, and the 
power of things invisible, out of their daily lives. 
Yet from creation, the invisible things of God are 
clearly seen, being understood by the things that 
are made, even His eternal power and Godhead. 
(Rom. i. 41.) The lavish beauty of creation is 
then to keep in constant remembrance the power 
of the Word — this same Word by which the 
heaven and earth were framed, (2 Peter, iii.,) 
and which speaks to us in blessing. 

Each life is a new creation, twin-born, of visible 



22 THE WORD AND THE TEACHER. 

and invisible body and soul, which, quickened by 
the Spirit, may be even more eloquent than nature^ 
of the power of the Word. Fed by the Word, 
led by the Spirit, the invisible life we lead may so 
breathe the sweet, pure air of heaven, that every 
day will bear witness of the practical power of the 
invisible presence with us always, even unto the 
end. Every day may shadow forth the truth of 
Him who said, in the beginning of our era of glad 
tidings, that the kingdom of heaven is at hand! 
and our lives so translate the message to those 
around, that they cannot but see that our cares are 
with God, and His rest with us, and " that His 
rest is glorious ! " 

This rest of God, with its resurrection power, 
seeks us out, to enter in and possess our earthly 
lives. Through the Word, and the Teacher or 
Guide, it is in reach of all. May we so receive it 
that we walk as seeing Him who is invisible, hav- 
ing our conversation in heaven. Conversation here 
stands for all manner of communication, being the 
chief avenue of intercourse of soul with soul ; and 
indeed our words give the true tone and temper of 
our lives. We need hardly say that the meaning 



CHRIST THE WORD. 23 

here is not that the conversation should be always 
of things unseen, or heavenly mysteries ; but as 
heaven means simply raised up, so the tenor of 
life and speech should show, that we are really 
placed on a Rock higher than our natural level ; 
that gives such firm footing, and such far-reaching, 
clear views, that we are emancipated from care and 
self-seeking, and the dull earthly facts of life bloom 
with possibilities, and the chances and changes, so 
called, of every day, serve only to bring near the 
royal, healing touch of the Word. 

There are no little things with God. Each way- 
side flower blooms to remind us that in the begin- 
ning was the Word with creative life-power. So 
with each soul that seeks this newness of life ; in 
the Word is the beginning found, and through the 
invisible Spirit is the power established in us. 

The law that creates and governs the bloom of 
the flower, creates the bloom or resurrection life in 
the soul. With Him with whom we have to do, 
there is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. 
The law that moves the drop of water, moves the 
world, and the same law " governs the fall of the 



24 THE WORD AND THE TEACHER. 

The Word which formed heaven and earth, cre- 
ated and upholds the ages, which, as they roll on, 
serve to record or embody the world's invisible 
thought and visible act, forming the great life-tide 
of the human race, which from the beginning has 
been pressing forward to the goal of the Invisible 
and Eternal. 

In the beginning the powers of heaven are re- 
vealed as bending in blessing over earth, with its 
myriad life. It is in the Word alone that man 
has had a clear revelation of the invisible world 
and its powers. Christ as king of heaven and 
earth, stands revealed as the way of access to these 
subtle mysteries of the invisible world. The 
nearer we are to Him, the nearer to those who have 
gone before — the spirits of just men made perfect. 

He it is who hath led captivity captive, and has 
" broken down every partition wall," so that light 
enters even into the shadow of death. In Him and 
through Him the visible church militant becomes 
the invisible church triumphant, and Heaven with 
its resurrection life and power, enters earth. 

The first two verses form a sort of preface to 
the seven-fold days — JEons or Ages of Creation — in 



CUBIST THE WORD. 25 

which are stated a few of the foundation facts on 
which the Cosmos of earth and heaven is builded ; 
and we have seen the chief foundation fact is the 
Word. The corner-stone is Christ. 

The Word meets us on this battle-field of life, 
and Christ is made manifest, wielding all power in 
heaven and earth ; almighty over things seen and 
unseen, — not only leader of the angelic host, but 
ruler and conqueror of the principalities of dark- 
ness, the mysterious powers of the air, whose name 
is legion, and whose aim is destruction. 

The Bible comes to us in the midst of a fierce 
contest, for we are born surrounded by these ene- 
mies. As in any contest, it is deadly danger to 
underrate the strength or zeal of the enemy, or to 
be ignorant of its power, so the Bible, (although 
containing only, as it were, the marching order of 
the Church-militant, and therefore entering not 
much into the origin of things,) points vividly to 
these otherwise unknown adversaries. It bravely 
faces these facts of darkness which hedge in the 
life of humanity, that, realizing our helplessness, 
we may press into thorough allegiance to the King 
and Leader who opens a way through these depths 



2G THE WORD AND THE TEACHER. 

of darkness, and thus becomes the way of a mighty 
salvation. 

The closer we cling to the Word, the nearer we 
are to Christ, and the nearer to the way of angel 
ministry. The prayer of faith will bring " presently 
more than ten legions of angels." The Bible 
plainly teaches that those for us are more than 
those against us. While it forcibly declares the 
fact of the existence of these mysterious beings 
who crowd and threaten our life, it would some- 
times seem at every step, yet it also tells us that 
with every temptation a way of escape is prepared 
to foil the subtle tempter's power. However 
powerful the prince of this world and its dark- 
ness, we can do all things through Christ, who 
strengthened us, if we seek that strength. For 
the word from our Leader is, " Fear not, little 
flock ; it is your Father's good pleasure to give 
you the kingdom." 

In our Saviour's life on earth, acts of royal 
authority were rare ; we find them chiefly exercised 
over those persistent, baffling powers, who vanish 
only at His word, crying, " What have we to do 
with Thee, Jesus of Nazareth, thou Holy One of 



CHRIST THE WOBD. 27 

God ? " And again over the angry waves of Gali- 
lee comes the same word, saying " Peace." Mighty 
as the tempest-tossed sea is the invisible conflict of 
life and the powers of darkness and death, and this 
tempest is round us ! Striking at the very roots of 
life, these facts of darkness remain ; no explana- 
tion can do away with them, or can be given 
beyond the glimpses revealed through the Word, 
reminding us that: 

i 

i " The awful conflict that was waged, by Christ the Prince 

of Peace, 
Against the powers of darkness, while time lasts will 

never cease ; 
I His body, the Church-militant, must follow where lie led, 
To prove her mystic union with her victorious .Head. 1 ' 

Our Saviour's life as our example, begins with 
temptations from these evil powers. He conquers 
with the sword of the Spirit; before what God 
has written, tempter and temptation vanish, and 
the angels come and minister. 

The Word breathes the spirit of the battle-field. 
The command is: " Be courageous; the book of 
the law, let it not depart from thee night and day. 



28 THE WOBD AND TEE TEACHER. 

So shalt thou prosper, so shalt thou have good 



success." 



The presence and weapon of the Conqueror are 
with the child of faith, as his sure hope and only 
ground of confidence. Past, present and future 
echo the same watch-word from our unchangeable 
Lord : " Fear not ; I am with thee alway, even to 
the end of the world." 

To the friend of God, that is, to the one who 
takes Him at His word, is said : " Fear not ; I am 
thy shield and exceeding great reward." The 
Prophets bring the same message to the fear-stricken 
people of God : " Fear not ; be not dismayed ; I 
am with thee, I am thy God. I will help thee, 
saith Jehovah, thy Redeemer." " Fear not, P 
have redeemed thee ; when thou passest through 
the waters I will be with thee, and in the fire the 
flame shall not kindle upon thee." 

When weary f and confused with our human 
needs, may the Spirit lead us to feel the quicken- 
ing touch of more than human tenderness fall on 
our life, and to hear the voice of the Son of Man, 
saying, a Fear not. I am the Beginning and the 
ending, the first and the last, [that is to say, all 



CHRIST THE WOBD. 29 

things are included in My power, and all possible 
chances and changes in My control.] I have the 
keys of Death and Hades. Fear not." 

These watch-words are some of the " treasures 
of darkness," prepared for the faithful combatants 
in this " Fight of Faith," and form the songs in the 
night of the Church-militant. This fierce contest 
is foreshadowed by the visible chaos and darkness 
before the Word enters bringing light. We would 
learn from these visible things of creation of the 
invisible, not only of the soul and its antagonists, 
but the power of the Word and the Spirit in and 
over both. Let us look at some of these, and the 
crowd of mysteries which surround them, in the 
picture which science holds up to-day to its atten- 
tive world, elaborated but recently from the lavish 
materials under its hand, aided, within a few 
months, by the magic touch of spectrum analysis. 

In the beginning of visible matter before time 
was, we behold a huge, glowing gas-flame, parted 
from some central mass of gases or nebulous mate- 
rial, struggling in the intense cold of the attenu- 
ated matter which fills space. Its own heat and 
this outer cold produce a contest of forces, tending 



30 THE WORD AND THE TEACHER. 

at once to contract its mass and fix its form. The 
fluctuating flame-like body becomes enclosed in 
dark walls, formed by this strife of elements, and 
its own rapid movement. These press down and 
around with such force, that our present earthly 
world becomes a fixed fact — its enclosing walls 
permanent, imprisoning through all time the cen- 
tral heart of fire which pulses in the bosom of 
mother earth. This seething sea of waters gathers 
fathomless depths, and sends many an inroad 
through the first frail walls, while the subtle mists 
ascend, floating afar as battle flags above the intense 
tumult, and as this subsides, settling down on the 
lifeless face of this mighty deep, in thick, cloud- 
like masses, filled with a deathly chill from the 
awful, pathless space without ; and the earth be- 
comes clothed with thick darkness, (Job, xxxviii. 
9,) and fettered with chains forged from these mists 
of darkness, seeming to make it a final hopeless 
prison-house, where night, filled with shadows of 
death, is destined to abide forever. 

From these recent teachings of science let us 
glance at the record of inspiration written out for 
us centuries before Christ came. In the first 



CHRIST THE WORD. 31 

verse the Hebrew word translated ' created/ would 
suggest the previous existence and unknown origin 
of the material, from which in thick darkness, 
our visible solar system and this earth have been 
fashioned in glory and beauty. The word is from 
the Arabic root, meaning at first, simply to 
plane off or carve into form ; so its use here 
would indicate the gradual reduction in size, and 
moulding into its present form, as we are told 
God created man, forming him from the dust of 
the ground. 

The second verse describes the three-fold phases, 
which this primeval flame or nebulous matter 
assumes, under tremendous pressure. That matter 
has three forms is obvious, being gaseous, liquid and 
solid, but that almost any material can assume 
these three forms, was but lately proved, or even 
imagined. The most impalpable gases become 
solid under certain conditions of cold and pressure. 
Sometimes the weight of three thousand atmos- 
pheres and —220° of cold, have been used to effect 
this result ; on the other hand, to use a slight and 
somewhat superficial example, the tenacious metal 
zinc, under the effect of heat, loses its dull color, 



32 THE WOBD AND THE TEACHER. 

becomes a glowing liquid, and finally, a superbly 
colored purple vapor or gas. 
" The Earth was without Form and Void" 
This is to say, formless and empty. We see 
here, the fluctuating flame writhing in the stern 
grasp of the outer cold, void or empty as the clear 
gas-flame, showing us that He did not create it in 
confusion. The chaos of the Greek writers and 
its attendant anarchy, came at a later era. This 
storm and strife period, with its depths of dark- 
ness, indicated the mighty forces involved, remind- 
ing us of the day of Jehovah's controversy, when 
He will stretch out the line of confusion, on the 
world's rebellious people. This war of the ele- 
ments has its place in tradition, as the mighty 
struggle of the old-time Titans ; and both are 
shadows of that dread hour when even the peace 
and glory of heaven were clouded, and there was 
war in heaven ! Satan and his angels contended 
w r ith the hosts of God; These evil powers are 
banished to the realms of earth, haunting its life, 
and seeking to rule and possess it. But the king- 
dom and rule of God, and the power of His Christ 
triumph, and from the darkness light is born ! 



CHRIST THE WORD. 33 

The first chapter in the Bible might serve as 
contents-table, or a summary of the latest results 
of the researches of science in those phases of the 
natural world, which it describes. The story of 
the ages has been slowly spelled out from its rock- 
bound record. These "stones of emptiness," 
rising from early chaos, echo the message of the 
Prophets, " Blessed be the king who cometh in 
the name Jehovah. Peace in heaven and on 
earth." These silent rocks* so long the deaf and 
dumb witnesses of the Creator's power, are now 
eloquent illustrations of fulfilled scientific prophecy 
— twin sister to historic prophecy evidence. This 
brilliant phase of truth is the special heritage of our 
time, and one of which the children of faith are 
just getting firm grasp. It has long been lying 
latent in the mental darkness which shrouded the 
world as a death-robe, specially since the time of 
the mediaeval monks, whose notions, oddly enough, 
pass current as holy writ. "We will let those who 
like, combat for or against their limited statements 
and superstitions as Bible truth, as Don Quixote 
fought the wind-mill: but the wind-mills of skep- 

* Luke xiv. 40. 



34: THE WORD AND THE TEACHER. 

ticism, or of bigotry, have always done effective, 
though unconscious service to God's truth, serving 
to grind away the chaff and husks which form the 
bushel-measure with which skeptic or bigot alike 
seek (for the extremes always meet) to cover over 
or extinguish the light of the Word. 

We will not dwell on mere scientific evidence, 
fascinating as it is, except to illustrate the fact, 
that there is no sort of truth or earthly wisdom that 
touches the home of man, or his mind or heart, 
that has not some clue given in, or shines brighter 
for contact with this Word of Life. The believer 
needs not this glittering evidence — dear as it may 
be to his heart— for the foundation stone of his 
faith ; and its power is, " Thy Word is truth." 
" Heaven and earth may pass away, but My Word 
abideth forever." * 

a The Spirit of God moved." 
Jehovah reigns ; clouds and darkness are about 
Him ; darkness and light to Him are both alike : 
into the realms of darkness without order, where 
the light is as darkness, descends the Holy Spirit. 
Over the still face of this sea of death comes a 

* Matt. xxiv. 05 ; Is. xl. 8 ; Jas. i. 25. 



CHRIST THE WORD. 35 

pentecostal baptism, opening the way of earth's 
redemption from eternal night. 

The Spirit of God moved, unresting, until the 
pathway of light is prepared, — organizing even 
chaos into harmonized development. 

The word here translated " moved," signifies, 
also, hovering or brooding, — as a bird over its nest 
and young. It is used in this sense in Deuteron- 
omy, xxxiii. 11. God, in His power, makes this 
mighty deep of darkness, which encircled the 
earth, a mere swathing band of the fullness of 
life that is to be, — for " He formed it to be inhab- 
ited."— Is. xlv. 18. 

Life enters this world cradled in the shadow of 
Death, — " hedged in with darkness," its feeble 
vital flame cherished into fullness of being by the 
Guide and Comforter, — who searcheth the dark- 
ness, — seeking each soul, to lead it home to the 
heart of God by the way of the Word and its 
light ; from the beginning, this brooding presence 
of God cherishing and fashioning. Let us look 
well at the divine love manifest in the facts of 
creation's dawn, that we may, with the inspired 
Psalmist, seek in this shadow of the almighty 



3G THE WORD AND TEE TEACIIEB. 

wing to be sheltered from the thick darkness that 
encompasses our life with the terror and evil that 
walk at home in it. 

" God said. Let there be Light " 
God speaking in human speech ! Fore-shadow- 
ing of the Word made flesh. Striking prophecy 
of the incarnation of the One, whose coming was 
ordained from the foundation of the world. 

Primeval silence is broken ! The Word enters, 
and the cloud-chains, forged of darkness, arc sun- 
dered as the Day-spring from on high visits the earth, 
bringing light. So is it that, from the beginning, 
the entrance of Thy Word giveth light, and the 
light was the life of man. This light came as the 
sun shining in its strength, pressing through the 
gates of the shadow of death. The power of 
tempest, which reigned in the depths of the world- 
wide waters, is subdued. The Most High utters 
His voice, and the foundations of the world appear. 
The same Word which stilled this primeval ocean, 
spake to the angry waves of Galilee ; — even the 
voice of Jesus ; mighty to save ; who is the same, 
yesterday, to-day, and forever. Through all time 



CUniST THE WORD. 37 

it has spoken to the life of humanity, — stilling its 
fierce life-tide into the peace which passeth under- 
standing, while the Spirit of God, brooding over, 
guides its course to the appointed end. 

The power that sways this life-tide in the affairs 
of men, must sway each soul. The Spirit and 
the Word are around us, and are ours, for blessing 
or for judgment, as we choose. Every day, with 
its cares and perplexities, brings the message, 
Choose now, whether we will rest in the presence 
♦of the Word, and the Guide or Teacher, or wander 
on with vague allegiance to an unknown God, — 
passing on through a chaos of confusion until our 
feet stumble on the dark mountains. But the light 
shineth in darkness, and the darkness compre- 
hended it not. To comprehend, is to include 
fully, — to have power over. All that the darkness 
had touched, it had fettered to its will or power. 
But the Word came with Light, — leading captivity 
captive. And now, above the rush of life, — loud 
as many waters, — sounds the song of the Church, 
militant and triumphant, — " All worthy Thou, 
who hast redeemed us, to receive honor, glory, 
power and blessing." 



38 THE WORD AND THE TEACHER. 

" God saw that it was Good" 
When God has blessed, who shall reverse it ? 
In the beginning, the benediction or blessing of 
God rests upon the Word and the light which it 
brings. As the sunshine comes to the earth, fill- 
ing it with splendor and gladness, and renewing 
its life day by day, so the Word comes forth from 
the fountain of life and light, and entering the 
natural darkness and apathy of the mind of man, 
brings enlightenment and progress, and entering 
the heart, brings gladness and freedom. Engrafted, 
into the daily life, it quickens as the sunshine, 
making us indeed and in truth, partakers of the 
" riches of Christ." " So the blessing of the Lord 
maketh rich, He addeth no sorrow with it." This 
blessing must follow the presence of the Word, 
and like its unchangeable Giver, be perpetual, irre- 
vocable, abiding forever. 

" God divided the Light from the Darkness." 

Another step in creation ! What God . has 

divided, no power can unite. The darkness is cut 

off, its days numbered. The Word enters that 

"horror of thick darkness," and " sharper than any 



CHRIST TEE WOBD. 39 

two-edged sword/' divides the way of light from 
the darkness forever. So, also, has it fallen on 
the invisible powers of darkness and tempest, with 
all their myriad brood of sin, evil and sorrow, and 
the power of God stands between each soul touched 
by the Word, (for where it is received light must 
enter,) and these dread enemies, represented by 
the darkness with its death-chill and confusion. 
Manifestly there can be no divided service to these 
opposing powers. Again the message comes : 
Choose now, whom ye will serve. Chief lesson, 
perhaps, of the picture presented, is the misery 
and struggle of such service, with its worse than 
Egyptian bondage, merging in gross darkness, 
while in the beginning, the way of light separates 
rapidly and decidedly, unto the Gospel of Christ 
or " Gladness in Jesus." 

Children of the day and its gladness, quickened 
with its power, we must become ; or remain chil- 
dren of the night. We must belong to one or the 
other. God recognizes no divided service. God 
called the light day — the darkness He called night. 
As another step in the progress of creation, these 
things are named according to their nature, and held 



40 THE WORD AND THE TEACHER. 

up to us in visible form, or " time patterns " of 
things eternal and supernatural, in which we see 
as in a glass, the power and love of God. The 
splendors of eternal light are subdued to quicken 
and comfort earthly life, and enter into closest 
communion with our daily life. The far-reaching 
" Light that never was on land or sea," comes to 
serve us in our daily toil, preparing the mind of 
man to receive, in the fullness of time, this fact, 
that " God, who commanded the light to shine out 
of darkness, hath shined in our hearts to give the 
knowledge of the glory of God in the face of 
Jesus Christ." Meanwhile, until that light enters 
our souls, we are dwellers of the night, and as to 
our life, within are fightings, and without are fears. 

The word day is used in at least three meanings 
in this chapter, and such, also, is its use in our 
every-day speech ; a period of light of about twelve 
hours, a period of day and night, and a general era, 
as Luther's day, &c. (Gen. ii. 4.) 

The Hebrew word Yom, is the equivalent of the 
Greek word iEon, as used in the Bible, and some- 
times translated either worlds or ages. (Heb. i. 2, 
margin.) The word involves the idea of a grad- 



CHRIST THE WORD. 41 

ual growth to perfection, assisted by outside agen- 
cies, as the egg, when brooded over, comes finally 
from its shell-imprisonment to full life, or the life 
of the seed is drawn from its dark prison-house, by 
the subtle agencies of water and heat, to final bloom 
and fruitage. So these successive ages, upheld by 
the Word and Spirit, become developed, and are 
types to us of the power of the creative Word, 
which cannot remain or return void and inactive. 

In the original this is age, or day one, not first; 
to distinguish, perhaps, from the others, numbered 
second, &c. For this stretches far away into the 
mysteries of eternity, seeming to form a vague 
shadow of the Infinite One, who draws near to 
commune with man. The succeeding JEons pic- 
ture Christ in some special relationship of His 
manifold ministry to us, while in the beginning 
this i iEon one,' stands distinct from all others, as 
it shadows forth the One begotten in the bosom of 
the Father, before time was, making manifest the 
glory of the God-head. As wonderful beauty and 
varied colors deck the day-dawn, so around the 
dawn of creation linger traces of unspeakable glory, 
some glimpse of which is given us in this day one, 



42 THE WOIil) and tup: teacher. 

whose beginning is lost in eternity, and which is 
yet the beginning of visible life — the first-born 
of the creations of God. 

All the life it foreshadowed, all the glory and 
love it reveals, centre in the Word. Far baei as 
revelation oasts its light we find that in the begin- 
ning was the Word, and the Word was with God, 
and the Word was God. All things were made 
by Him, and without Him was not anything made. 
In the fullness of time the Word was made flesh, 
and dwelt upon earth. 

Into the dim future men gaze eagerly : once 

only have the clouds veiling it been swept aside, 

and the power of Christ made manifest. Willi the 
beloved disciple we behold heaven opened, and the 
"Faithful and True," whose name is called "The 
Word or God," while the armies of heaven follow 

Him. Out of J I is mouth goeth a sharp sword, 
and on II is vesture a name is written, King of 
Kings and Lord of Lords. 
Who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light 

which no man can approach unto, to whom 

he honor and power everlasting. 

Amen. 



M> 



DAY OR AGE UEON) SECOND. 



Gen. i. 6-8. 



THE FIRMAMENT; 



OR, 



%ist % Man. 



The invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are 
clearly seen, being- understood by the things that arc made, even His 
eternal power and Godhead. ROM. i. 20. 




(43) 




CHRIST THE WAY. 



)J|||¥^Y the Jew, no office was held more sacred 
f||g|| than the prophet's, — not even that of High 
Priest. The prediction of the future, with which 
alone we are apt to associate it, formed but a small 
part of his service. At once teacher of priest, 
king, and people, he stood revered by all, as an 
interpreter of " the mind of the Spirit," making 
known the will of God. 

His precious words were recorded with ex- 
treme care, and given to king and priest to guard 
. with their lives if need be, for those who would 
come after, being for all time, the " gift of God " 
to His people, that they might " be perfected, and 
thoroughly furnished for all good works." What 
God has given by inspiration, and guarded for us 
by miracles of power, His Spirit alone can fully 
interpret to each soul ; hence we are told, that " no 
(45) 



46 



THE WORD AND THE TEACHER. 



prophecy of Scripture is of private interpretation ; 
but holy men spake as they were moved by the 
Holy Ghost." So, in order to enter into the full 
meaning of " what is written," we need the pres- 
ence of this Spirit of Truth as Guide and Teacher. 
— John xv i. 13. 

In the more obvious matters of the Word, a God 
does not leave Himself without a witness." The 
many witnesses who make up this one Book of 
Truth so harmonize, that a little careful attention 
in comparing Bible texts will perfect many an 
apparently vague saying into fullness of power, 
doing away with many a so-called contradiction, as 
well as a good deal of mystery. In other words, 
the Bible is its own best commentary. But after 
"all diligence is used," without the presence pray- 
erfully sought, the Word will often seem but a 
dead letter, or effete law, rather than the way of 
newness of life ; as containing commands impos- 
sible to be obeyed, — such as, " Be ye perfect, even 
as your Father in Heaven is perfect ; " or pictures 
of joy unrealized, and as to its promises a romance 
of impossible things. 

This may seem strange language ; but is it not 



CHRIST TEE WAY. 47 

what our standard of faith too frequently makes of 
the "Word and its promises. We are told that 
" all Scripture is a gift of God, and is profitable." 
So if it seems dull or unmeaning, it is to remind 
us that " we are of ourselves insufficient to help 
ourselves ; that sufficiency (or satisfying,) must be 
of God." — 2 Cor. iii. 5. In other words, that the 
fullness of the Word does not, or cannot, readily 
come into our minds. We are in absolute need 
of the heaven-sent Spirit, — the promised Guide 
and Teacher, who comes specially to open our 
understanding concerning the Word, — and to keep 
in remembrance all that Christ said, — as well as 
the prophecies concerning Him. 

It is not for any special worthiness, but for our 
soul's need that the promises are given. So it can- 
not be humility, but languid faith, which keeps this 
blessing out of our daily life. God, who spared 
not His only Son, will He not with Him freely 
give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him ? — 
Luke xi. 13: u Ask, and receive, that your joy 
may be full." And here we catch a glimpse of the 
way to the fullness of joy and power, which char- 
acterized the early Church, in spite of its outward 



48 THE WORD AND THE TEACHER. 

pain and weakness. This joy and peace are fruits 
of the Spirit, promised through time and eternity 
to the disciples of Jesus ! Let us seek to compare 
Scripture with Scripture, until the various shadings 
of remote times and speech, blend in the present 
perfect light of God's full truth. If, in seeking, 
we are baffled,— if no revelation seems to await us, 
— it is to teach us that our "thoughts are not as 
God's thoughts ; " and lead us to seek the promised 
presence of the Spirit humbly, and even more 
earnestly, if possible, than we seek truth from 
the Word. 

If we thus take the rough places of the Word 
to the God who loves to bless, in the earnestness 
that prompted the Prince who wrestled with God 
and prevailed, (Gen. xxxii. 28,) and from whom 
the Church of God was named from that hour, we 
shall soon find it so engrafted by the Spirit of life 
into our souls, that the desert places must rejoice 
and bloom, " for the mouth of the Lord hath 
spoken it." Received in this way, the good graft 
will so possess our life and soul with its mighty 
salvation, or healing, that the fruits of the Spirit 
must abound with more than tropic luxuriance. 



CHRIST TEE WAY. 49 

It is not a vain service that our Saviour commands, 
and the prophets both command and entreat, — 
" Seek ye out of the Book of the Lord and read, 
no one of these shall fail, for my mouth hath com- 
manded, and His Spirit hath gathered them, — 
the wilderness shall rejoice for them." — Is. xxxiv. 
16. 

There are some who gather diligently, but little 

I life seems to come of it. The sacrifice of obedi- 
ence seems made ready ; the dry wood, as it were, 
laid in order for the burning ; but it lacks the 
fire from Heaven. They seem to be in the posi- 
tion of certain of the early disciples, to whom 
Paul came, saying, " Have ye received the Holy 
Ghost ? " The answer was, " We have not so 

\ much as heard if there be any Holy Ghost." — 

i Acts xix. 2. But they had only knowledge of 
John's Baptism ; while we have not only the Gos- 

i pel, or glad tidings of Christ as recorded through 
the four Evangelists, but what may with all rever- 

! ence be termed the Gospel of the Holy Ghost, or 
the Book of Acts, — the glad tidings of the Com- 
forter and Teacher, coming from our ascended 
Lord to fill each life with His resurrection power ; 



50 THE WORD AND THE TEACHER, 

chief of whose wondrous gifts and offices on 
earth (1 Cor. xii. 3) seems to be the opening our 
minds concerning what is written; or in other 
words, teaching us to " see Jesus," our Saviour, 
not here, but risen, Lord of all power in heaven 
and on earth, — and to fill us with that power, and 
fit us for abiding communion with it. 

The Firmament. 
a God said, Let there be a firmament," and 
thus, " By the word of God were the heavens 
made." — 2 Peter iii. 5 ; Heb. xi. 3. In the first 
age, the Word cpmes ; the storm-girt world is 
touched by the conqueror, light, and the force of 
the tempest subdued forever. Again the Word 
comes, and the power of the Godhead is again 
made manifest, cleaving into the very heart of the 
waters, as " Jehovah maketh a way in the whirl- 
wind," and "the depths of the sea." — Is. li. 10; 
Neh. i. 3 ; Ex. xiv. 16. An ocean of air is 
spread around the earth ; and life, with its glory 
and beauty, becomes a possibility. In this " clear 
shining" "body of Heaven," (Ex. xxiv. 10,) is 
"the way where light dwelleth," or where light 
abides enthroned. 



CEBIST TEE WAT. 51 

Such, then, was God's way of redemption for 
our earth from the curse of desolation. From the 
moment this fountain of life reaches it, or this 
breath from Heaven draws near, it ceases to be a 
mere prison-house of death and the hosts of 
destruction. But " captivity is led captive," and 
the blind prisoner, Earth, sees ! 

So in the fullness of time came Christ to 
earth ; and so now is His coming to each soul, 
who will receive the « glorious liberty " He brings 
to its daily life, fettered as it is with sin, and care, 
and vagueness. 

The word firmament, means simply expansion, 
or expanse ; while the special use here, is defined 
in verse 20, as the place where the birds fly; or 
the invisible, etherial ocean, which surrounds our 
earth to the depth of many miles ; forming emphat- 
ically the « one way of life for all creatures upon 
it." In it "we live and move and have our 
being." An obvious type of Him, in whom our 
soul's life must centre. 

« Thus saith Jehovah, I will give them one 
heart. One way I will rejoice over them, to do 
them good."— Jer. xxxii. 39. For centuries came 



52 TEE WORD AND TEE TEACEER. 

priest and prophet to prepare " The way of the 
Lord."— Math. xi. 10 ; Luke i. 76. " For a high- 
way shall be there, and a way ; the unclean shall 
not pass over it ; but the redeemed shall walk 
there." — Is. iii. 9. Christ coming as the Emman- 
uel, — God with us, — takes up this word of the 
prophets, saying, a I am the way and the life." 

The Way of At-One-Ment. 

The clouds which pressed close upon the surface 
of the earth with the chill of death, shutting it 
in, isolated with its own fierce unrest, are now 
raised up, and all things are made plain or man- 
ifest, through this firmament, which at once 
shelters and reveals, so that our way on earth is 
made one of freedom and gladness, and the remote 
things of heaven are brought near. 

It is, in fact, an incarnation of invisible, unimag- 
ined power, — " always " present in our daily lives 
everywhere, "even to the end of the world." An 
abiding way of life, — heaven-sent,— yet it is fash- 
ioned of earthly materials ; it becomes the one 
way of At-one-ment, union, or access of things 
visible .and invisible, — the way of communion of 



CHRIST THE WAY. 53 

the powers of Earth and Heaven. In the word 
expansion, — which would probably be the more 
exact rendering for firmament, — is suggested one of 
the most marked attributes of this ether of life ; 
its elasticity, which enables it to enter into all 
places, and adapt itself to all variations. 

As the dark storm-clouds were severed from 
earth, this gentle touch came, making manifest a 
" way of peace ; " a new element in life, more 
powerful than the strength of those primeval tem- 
pests, which were the earth's natural birth-right. 
Even so does the touch of the " Prince of Peace " 
fall on those who, " laboring and heavy laden," 
seek His rest. For He is our peace, (Eph. xi. 
14, 18,) coming to " them that were far off, as to 
them that were nigh." Even as the life-full air of 
Heaven presses in through every partition wall, so 
came Jesus of Nazareth, our soul's friend, and the 
sinner's friend, to seek and save the lost. Through 
Him we have access by a " new and living way " 
unto the Father ; and in communion with Him 
fades away every alienation. 

As " He talks with us in the way," every petty 
dividing line, each little shibboleth of creed, 



54 THE WORD AND THE TEACHER. 

passes away; and no longer the discussion is 
whether they who think with Paul or Cephas 
shall be greatest, but " Christ is all in all." * 

May we not pray with the Psalmist, "Teach 
me Thy way, O Lord ; " for, quickened in its new- 
ness of life,f all ordinary living seems but a death- 
sleep, or " way of darkness." 

Time would fail if we should try to dwell on all 
the life-full offices of air, as it unites in one great 
communion of life and well-being the unnumbered 
creations of God. 

With all said, it would only be a faint echo of 
the wonderful adaptation of Christ's mighty salva- 
tion to the untold needs of humanity; a glimpse 
only of the unsearchable riches of Christ, making 
known the fellowship or communion of the mys- 
tery hid in God, who created all things by Jesus 
Christ. X 

The very word echo recalls the fact that every 
word uttered has in the air its only way of access 
to its aim. So, throughout the world's life, is it, 
where the blending atmosphere of the love of 

* Col. iii. 11. t Ps. cxix. 37. % Eph. iii. 8, 9. 



CHBIST TEE WAY. 55 

Christ and His Word does not enter, that nations, 
parties, and even kinsmen, are as much aliens, 
and as strange to one another, as if on separate 
planets. 

Let us not linger in this world's life, with its 
silence of death creeping in, but press to the prize 
of our high calling in Christ, and be so separated 
unto the kingdom of heaven, that all these things 
may be given through the " Holy Spirit of Prom- 
ise," # as we rest in its sweet atmosphere of faith, 
which, growing clearer and purer, reveals day by 
day unimagined glories, f 

The Way of Redemption, or Christ the Sin-Bearer. 

The cloud-masses, huge as lakes or the smaller 
seas, are raised as readily by the buoyant air as 
the rain-drops, and float afar off decked with light 
and beauty, — servants of God, messengers of His 
love, — laden with water of life, though drawn 
perhaps from the turbid salt seas, cleansed and 
purified by the touch of the air, through and by 
which they were raised to the height of heaven. 

* Rom. v. 2, 5. f 1 Cor. xi. 7, 9, 10. 



56 TEE WORD AND TEE TEACEER. 

So into the life of man, hedged in with self, heavy 
laden with sin and care, so that light and hope 
are gone, the Word enters with its voice from 
heaven, speaking of the way of redemption, or the 
abiding Presence which redeems ; and in our wil- 
derness life is heard the voice of the Man of sor- 
rows, saying, " My peace I give unto you ; not as 
the world giveth," for this peace saves now w 7 ith 
a mighty salvation that abideth forever. "For 
as the heaven is high above the earth, so is His 
mercy toward them that fear Him." # Far as the 
East is from the West, so are our sins and cares 
borne from us as readily as the cloud-masses were 
floated away from sight; and standing fast in this 
glorious liberty, we can say, " Surely He hath 
borne our griefs; the chastisement of our peace 
was upon Him." But this new and living way is 
the way everlasting; it endures beyond the narrow 
gateway of death, and passes beyond the furthest 
limit of human thought; yet we may enter it with 
confidence, for thus saith the Lord thy Redeemer, 
"Beside Me there is no Saviour; I have blotted 

* Ps. ciii. 11, 12. 



CHRIST THE WAY. 57 

out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions, and as a 
cloud thy sins. I am the Lord who maketh all 
things, that stretched out the heavens; I have 
redeemed thee." 

All the mysteries of life and death fade away 
as this light of eternity presses in, and earthly light 
or darkness are alike dim before the clear shining 
atmosphere of faith, and the abiding Presence it 
reveals. 

It is through this firmament that we have what- 
ever revelation we possess of the wonderful "be- 
yond," with its hosts of " heaven " ranged in mystic 
order in the depths of space. 

God hath said, Do not I fill heaven and earth ? 
Behold, heaven is My throne. Am I a God at 
hand, and not a God afar off? Then " whither 
shall I go from Thy Spirit, or whither flee from 
Thy presence ? If I ascend into heaven, Thou art 
there ; if I take the wings of the morning, even 
there shall Thy hand lead me. I will praise Thee." 
Oh,lead me in the way everlasting. The Lord of 
heaven and earth giveth all things life, that they 
should seek after Him ; for " He is not far from 



58 THE WORD AND THE TEACHER. 

any one of us. In Him. we live, and move, and 
have our being." 

In the vision of Ezekiel we see the likeness of 
the firmament as a terrible crystal;* that is, "clear 
shining." Sapphire-hue(],f crystalline, so far reach- 
ing and magnificent as to inspire awe, staking out 
beyond the flight of angels, even to the throne, 
recalling the pure river of water of life, clear as 
crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and 
of the Lamb. 

As the vision grows plainer, upon the throne is 
seen "the likeness of a man, and this was the 
vision of the glory of God, and I saw. I fell on 
my face, and heard the voice of One who spake." 
The prophet is not alone in this vision ; for God, 
who commanded light to shine out of darkness, 
hath shined in our hearts, to give knowledge of 
His glory in the face of Jesus Christ, and in these 
last days hath spoken to us by His Son, who is the 
brightness of II is glory. 

So, whether it is in the least of daily wants, or 
the remotest aspiration for heavenly things, we are 

* Ezck. i. 22. t Ezck. x. i. 



C HEIST THE WAY. 59 

still brought face to face with the Christ, uphold- 
ing all things by His powerful word, and the 
longer we gaze the more this kingdom of heaven 
presses into our lives. Thy mercy, O Lord, is in 
the heavens; Thy faithfulness reacheth unto the 
clouds. With Thee is the fountain of life; in Thy 
light shall we see light. 

It is through the firmament, or body of air, that 
we see the sun enthroned in rainbow-tinted clouds 
as each morning comes, after the death of sleep 
has visited us, bringing resurrection life and power, 
and we seem to see, with the inspired prophet, 
"the God of glory, who came by the way of the 
East."* It recalls the hour of the second coming, 
when, as the lightning shineth from East to West, 
shall the "Son of Man come in the clouds of 
heaven, with great glory, and gather His elect 
from the four winds of heaven." 

And a Highway shall be There. 

The air of heaven enters everywhere, filled with 
purity and freshness. As the sea is moved with 

* Ezek. xliii. 2. 



60 THE WORD AND THE TEACHER. 

its tides, so the air is swayed by far-off influences, 
neither earth-bound nor earth-given. Space and 
time are defied in the speed which conveys the 
subtle impulses. Bird and plant, with their un- 
perverted sensibilities, feel the electric thrill, and 
become, to the clear-sighted observer, sure harbin- 
gers of storm or sunshine as they respond to these 
unseen intimations. Then comes, it may be, the 
cool zephyr, wafting heavenward the song of the 
bird, the fragrance of the flower, or the murmur of 
the forest; or it may presage the wind rising as 
storm-king when 

" God sweeps in the wrath of His judgment seas," 

urging billows of flame to this dread work, or 
uplifting the depths of ocean as it ingulfs the 
pride of nations. Thus speaks our Saviour of the 
work of the Spirit, as of " the wind which bloweth 
where it listeth; thou canst not tell whence it 
cometh, nor whither it goeth ; " and with the 
Pentecost baptism came the sound of a mighty 
rushing wind.* 

* Acts ii. 1, 2; 2 Kings vii. 6. 






CEEIST THE WAY. 61 

The wind which goes about from one end of 
heaven to the other is manifest, of course, only 
through the presence of the air to which it gives 
movement. So the Spirit comes to the soul where 
the word is engrafted. To attain this presence is 
to be risen with Christ,* and to rest in the power 
of God. 

As the wind stirs and quickens the air, so (with 
office and personality as distinct as that of Jesus 
of Nazareth) the Holy Spirit works w T ith the Word 
of Christ, making plain the way of life prepared by 
prophet and apostle. So that this "way of holi- 
ness " becomes the highway on which all nations 
shall walk as they turn Zionward to reach their 
eternal home. 

As we see this expanse of firmament, with its 
power of life here, and revelation of heavenly 
things beyond, we may well say, " The heavens 
declare the glory of God, the firmament showeth 
His handiwork; day unto day uttereth speech." 
As we watch the air pressing in and around all 
things, seeking as it were to redeem them from 

* Col. iii. 3. 



62 THE WORD AND THE TEACHER. 

death and corruption, entering even where sun- 
shine is shut out, the joy of heaven itself may well 
fill the soul, saying, " Who shall separate us from 
the love of Christ? — Neither death nor life, 
height nor depth, shall be able to sepa- 
rate us from the love of God 
which is in Christ Jesus 
our Lord." 




DAY OR AGE C^ON) THIRD. 

Gen. i. &-13. 

THE ROCK OF AGES; 

OK, 



When my heart is overwhelmed, lead me to the Rock that is higher 
than I. Ps. lxi. 2. 



For He is the Rock ; His work is perfect. Deut. xxxii. 4. 



*&* 



(63) 




CHRIST OUR REDEEMER. 



THE ROCK OF AGES. 



GEOLOGY tells us of an era when the ocean 
€jfl reigned supreme. An unbroken waste of 
waters spread around the globe, covering it as a 
garment. This is one of the physical facts of our 
earth's early biography, of which the first distinct 
sketch or intimation is found in the Bible. God 
said, Let the dry land appear. The gentle touch 
of the air comes, setting its circle on the deep, 
and behold, " the depths are broken up," and the 
" earth is made glorious in the heart of the seas." 

The conquering Word led captive the floods 
of flame, and it now sets its royal signet on the 
unfathomed depths, and these monarchs of might 
5 (65) 



66 THE WORD AND THE TEACHER. 

both render tribute service; the one upholding 
the earth, while the other aids in fashioning its 
varied form as Jehovah prepares it to be inhabited. 
This preparation is mainly effected through the 
subtle agency of the ocean of surrounding air, 
cherishing and moulding it into organic form and 
life. In this third aeon we find the earth " founded 
on the floods," or "stablished in these threefold 
depths of flame, water, and air." 

The expression of these verses is eminently 
suggestive of length of time, or almost timeless 
extension of ages. The work of Nature here out- 
lined may be seen repeated wherever the rocky 
coast is gaining ascendency over the sea: gradu- 
ally the sandy shore and half submerged marsh 
land are raised or redeemed into dry land. 

Through the healing influences of fresh air and 
light, the more highly organized forms of life be- 
gin to appear: at first the hardy coast plant and 
sturdy shrub; soon grasses cover the spreading 
plain, and forest life adorns the hill-side. A recog- 
nized succession of forest growth springs up from 
evergreen to oak, and finally fruit tree, bearing 



C HEIST OUR REDEEMER. 67 

fruit after its kind. This successive forest life 
must take its centuries of growth ; a period of 
time, compared with which the days of the years 
of the generations of man seem nothing. Long 
as the forest age is when compared with human 
life, yet even that sinks into insignificance when 
contrasted with the period of the upgrowth of the 
dry land, and the conquest of the seas; while this 
last so passes beyond all our limited standard of 
human measure as to be absolutely timeless. In 
this one aeon, two of the slowest processes of 
Nature picture to the soul the birth and growth 

I of continents. 

1 

First, to break the drear monotony of that wil- 
derness of waves, rises the sharply-defined rock, 
which becomes, as the ages grow, centre and stay 
of wide-spread fields of life, — the mountain range 
stretching from earth to heaven, with its rocky 
summits cleft and shattered with the long war 
with the elements, over which it now holds do- 
minion from sea to sea ; while it rises on the low 
coast line as a bold headland, forming perpetual 
signal to the weary seaman, of rest near at hand. 



68 THE WORD AND THE TEACHER. 

Finally the cleft mountain tops become lost to 
view in the clouds of heaven, whence they bring 
the pure river of life to the far-off plains below. 

Above the unfathomed depths of the life of 
humanity rises " the Rock of Ages," slowly gaining 
ascendency over the seething, restless flood. Each 
year adds to the fullness of meaning of the pro- 
phetic words, " If I be lifted up, I will draw all 
men unto Me." This cleft rock, with its summit 
now passed into the heavens, brings from thence 
to those who are far off, as to those who are near, 
the pure water of life ; yet it is in abiding presence 
with us as sure refuge and defence. 

Its majesty and strength embody the prophecy, 
"Behold, a King shall reign, and a Man shall be 
a hiding-place ; a refuge from the storm : as rivers 
of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great 
rock in a weary land." In our daily life, no matter 
how far off in the wilderness we have wandered, 
the river of life from that smitten Rock is near, 
and we may come and drink freely, and the soul's 
thirst will be satisfied, for "that Rock is Christ." # 

* 1 Cor. x. 4. 



CHRIST OUR REDEEMER. 69 

"He is the Rock, and fortress, and deliverer; my 
strength, the might of my salvation, my refuge, 
my Saviour.* I will call on the Lord, who is 
worthy to be praised ; so shall I be saved." Thus 
sang the sweet singer of Israel ; and history has 
often shown us the mountain fastness as the 
stronghold of freedom for the poor and oppressed, 
and there only they found peace; giving us some 
type of our sure refuge with the Redeemer, and 
the way we should come to Him for safety. 

David says, "The Rock of Israel spake to me." 
So let us learn to abide in Him, that we may hear 
His voice speaking to us, and that our lives may 
be hidden in Christ from all that can harm. Hid- 
den in the clefts of the Rock, we may stand, and 
while learning of all His goodness, see the glory 
of God pass before us.f 

When the great wave of judgment — that tidal 
wave of redemption — shall break over the world, 
with its purifying fire, filling the earth as a sea 
of glory; then shall we go to the clefts of the 
Rock for fear of Jehovah, and the glory of His 

* 1 Sam. xxii. 3. t Ex. xxxiii. 21. 



70 THE WOBD AND THE TEACHEB. 

majesty.* When the glory of God comes again to 
dwell with man, and asserts its kingdom on earth 
as now in heaven, then may each soul turn to its 
sure refuge, saying, with child-like confidence, 

"Rock of Ages, cleft for me. 
Let me hide myself in Tftee." 

Far back in the ages, above the timeless floods, 
those rocky summits rose, as it were, the gate- 
ways of time — portals for this temple of life, our 
earth, which, builded up by the creative Word, 
arises from its twofold baptism of w T ater and fire 
into glorious beauty. Inspired revelation takes 
us back to the beginning, that we may stand by 
this grand gateway, and view the long procession 
of life entering on its strange drama. 

This is tragic enough on the mere earthly side ; 
yet even in its chiefest tragedy it makes manifest 
the fullness of the riches of the love of God in the 
life and death of our Redeemer. 

As we gaze on the varied hosts, we cannot but 
echo this hymn of the ages, " Lift up your heads, 

* Is. ii. 21: Luke xxiii. 30. 



CHRIST OUR REDEEMER. 71 

O ye gates, and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors, 
and the King of Glory shall come in. Who is this 
King of Glory ? The Lord, strong and mighty — 
even the Lord of Hosts." 

The procession of life pauses not in this world. 
The Rock of Ages, founded in eternity, passes 
into highest heavens. This glorious mountain 
gateway extends its magnificent archway beyond 
this earth's limits, standing in perpetual type of 
Him who has said, "I am the door; if by Me any 
man enter in, he shall be saved. Whoso cometh 
unto Me, I will in no wise cast out." We have 
glanced at the beginning of the record of God's 
revelation; and at its close we may stand with 
the inspired seer # on the top of the high moun- 
tain, and see this Lord of Hosts, whose name is 
the "Word of God," leading the armies of heaven; 
and the hosts of life sweep into the home their 
Leader went to prepare — the great city of God, 
with its tree of life and streets of light, resting 
on Zion, the Mount of Gladness. 

So is the Christ made manifest as Head of all. 

* Rev. xx. 10. 



72 THE WORD AND THE TEACHER. 

In Him do all things consist. Hidden in Him are 
all forms and sources of life. Before His word 
vanish all anguish of sin and care ; and He is made 
known as " all in all," through time and eternity, 
being in life and death the sure Refuge and abid- 
ing Foundation, and no other foundation can any 

man lay. 

The Mountain of God. 

"In the mount of God it shall be seen: the Lord 
will provide." * We have seen the grand moun- 
tain stand forth above the world's life as the Rock 
of Ages, or the Mighty Angel, who, clothed with 
the clouds of heaven, stands on shore and sea,f 
holding out the Book of God to the disciple. 

We have watched how in fullness of time this 
mighty mountain range extends its dominion from 
sea to sea. % Even now in mid Pacific those 
mountain summits are still rising, as the "Isles 
of the Sea ; " bearing from the first palms of vic- 
tory, they press on and heavenward until they 
become crowned with eternal snows, like a great 
white cloud of glory. § These summits are at 

* Gen. xxii. t Rev. x. % Ps. lxxii. § Is. xlii. 10, 12. 



CHRIST OUR REDEEMER. 73 

times lost to sight in the heavens, and again 
they are seen like embodied light, as in our far 
Western land the sun glances across the icy 
Sierras, giving some dim suggestion of the resur- 
rection, power, and glory of the One who has 
passed from earth's mountain summits to the 
height of heaven ; as well as a vision of the celes- 
tial home He prepares for the children of the 
kingdom. 

Through Holy Writ we can trace a mountain 
range, founded far back in eternity, its summits 
glittering with light, across the darkness of historic 
record and tradition. In steadfast, superb power, 
it towers above the surging depths of past and 
present; even extending its outposts afar in the 
dim future, recalling the words of the prophet, 
"I will make all my mountains a way. Sing, 
heavens, break forth into singing, O mountains, 
for Jehovah hath comforted His people. Lift up 
your eyes round about ; and behold, I lift up mine 
hand to the Gentiles, and my standard to the 
people, and thou shalt know I am Jehovah. They 
shall not be ashamed who wait for me, and all 



74 THE WOED AND THE TEACHER. 

flesh shall know that I the Lord am thy Saviour 
and Redeemer."* 

Let us look through the sacred record, and 
gather a few of the rays of eternal light reflected 
from these summits, and learn a little of this 
mountain way. Those first seen are the moun- 
tains of rest, where the few children of faith, who 
received and obeyed the Word, found safety from 
the destroying flood as the frail ark rested on 
Ararat, having weathered the storms of months' 
duration. 

Without pausing on the strange history of 
'Mount Moriah f we will gather its lesson : "In the 
mount of God it shall be seen : the Lord will 
provide;" which has proved an unfailing watch- 
word for the Church in all the ages which have 
passed since that hour. 

A little later in time another mountain is made 
memorable as a mount of God; for there God 
communes with His chosen leader, who discerns 
His presence through the flame, resting on the 
acacia, or common thorn-bush of the desert. This 

* Is. xlix. 11, 16. t Gen. xxiii. 



CHRIST OUR REDEEMER. 15 

memory gave tone to the whole life of that leader, 
and his farewell blessing to the tribes of Joseph is, 
"Blessed of Jehovah be his land, for the precious 
things of heaven, for the dew, for the deep that 
coucheth beneath, and for the chief things of 
the ancient mountains, for the precious things of 
the lasting hills, and for the good will of Him that 
dwelt in the bush."* Stephen, the first martyr, 
recalls this scene of the One who dwelt in the 
bush,f which in Hebrew speech would point us 
I to the Nazarene, $ as the village of Nazareth takes 
its name from the bushy growth around it. 

The voice which sounded from the clouds on 
Sinai has sounded through all time. We will 
not linger w 7 here all God's people have bowed in 
homage ; the wondrous scenes it discloses are 
written already in our hearts, making it forever 
the mount of revelation. 

On the grand summit of Mount Hor Aaron dies 
— the first high priest according to the typical 
law. On the Mount of Vision § Moses dies, — 
having seen the land of promise even to its utmost 

* Deut. xxxii. 13-16. t Acts vii. 

J Matt, iii. 23. § Deut. xxxiv. 2, Pisgah. 






76 THE WORD AND THE TEACHER. 

sea, # — the prophet and leader whose self-denial 
and power make him, through the coming cen- 
turies, prototype of the Christ.t The mysterious 
dying of these servants of Jehovah "in the mount," 
according to the word of the Lord, cannot but re- 
call the mystery of death on Mount Calvary, where 
we behold our King dying in obedience to the law 
and the prophets, which He came not to destroy, 
but to fulfill. In the going home of the first high 
priest and leader, a gleam of the resurrection light 
comes to us, which burst forth in its fullness on 
the first Easter morning. 

In that memorable scene in Bible history, where 
Elijah stands on the mount of God, the "still 
small voice " speaks to him, making itself manifest 
as of greater power than the whirlwind which 
cleaves the rocks, the earthquake shock, or the 
tempest of fire, which have vanished into the past 
before its coming. \ 

So the lesson of the mountain tops is always the 
same ; even the stern grandeur of Sinai, with its 
typical law, serving to school the heart and mind 
of humanity to see Jesus. § 

* Deut. xxxiv. 2. f Acts vii. 37. \ 1 Kings xix. § Gal. iii. 24. 



CHRIST OUR REDEEMER. 77 

Let us pass from historic to prophetic record : 
"It shall come to pass in the last days that the 
mountain of the Lord's house shall be established 
on the tops of the mountains, and shall be exalted 
above the hills, and many people shall say, Come, 
let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and He 
will teach us of His ways, for from Zion shall go 
forth the law, and the word from Jerusalem." 

Isaiah, the prophet of Christ, is the mountain 
prophet. Inspiration constantly leads him back to 
this type; and in these verses the natural uprising 
of the mountains seems to be taken as the grand 
symbol of Zion, the mount of gladness and holi- 
ness, which rises to heaven as the Rock of Ages ; 
in other words, the Church, built up by the power 
of God, to be keeper of the Word, with Christ its 
Leader and Head. 

" Glorious things of thee are spoken, 
Zion, city of our God ; 
He whose word cannot be broken 
Formed thee for His own abode. 

***** 

On the Rock of Ages founded, 

What can shake thy sure repose ? " 



78 TEE WORD AND TEE TEACHER. 

The earliest association with Mount Zion is as 
the refuge and stronghold of King David the peni- 
tent, over whose life rolled a fierce, fiery baptism of 
agony and suffering from foes without and within; 
from these his " soul flees to God as a bird to its 
mountain."* Coming to the Word, he finds it 
stronger than these foes, more powerful than the 
depths of sin, which colored his life with the scar- 
let brand of shame ;f cleansed with its life-full 
healing, his psalms of humility and thankfulness 
have become the songs of the ages — echoed often 
enough as lip-service by many who are further 
than he from true heart-service, in being further 
from repentance. Feeling the power of the Word 
and its presence in the soul, it became his leading 
thought to find for it an abiding-place among men. 

For a while, on the hills of David's city, is seen 
the cloud of the Presence over the Holy of Holies, 
where is enshrined the Word of God. As these 
shadows of the Presence fade away before the 
hardness, carelessness, and self-righteousness of 
those blessed by them, the voice of the prophet 

♦Ps.xi. 1. f Ps. li. 7; Is. i. 18. 



CHRIST OUR REDEEMER. 79 

grows plainer, speaking of the mountain of God : 
"In this mountain shall the Lord of Hosts make a 
feast, and He will destroy in this mount the veil 
that is spread over the nations." # 

So frequent is this type with the prophet, that 
it may have given pretext to the question between 
the Samaritans and Jews about their worship, f 
which our Saviour answers, saying, "Neither in 
this mountain nor in Jerusalem shall ye worship ; 
but the hour cometh, and now is, when the true 
worshiper shall worship the Father in spirit and 
in truth, for the Father seeketh such to worship 
Him. The woman saith, I know that the Mes- 
sias cometh, which is called the Christ, who will 
tell us all things. Jesus saith unto her, I am 
He." 

Looking through the letter to the spirit it em- 
bodies, we discern, through the long-continued 
type of the mountain peak that would rise above 
earth's mountains, the Rock of Ages making mani- 
fest the grace and truth of God. J 

The Hill of Zion, the Mount of God, stands not 

* Is. xxv. 6. f John iv. 20. \ John i. 17. 



80 THE WORD AND THE TEACHER. 

only for Christ, but includes those who are His; 
symbolizing the Church of God, of which He is 
Head, and which gradually, from its first appear- 
ance as a mere foothold above the chafing flood, 
becomes the Mount of Refuge and Gladness known 
through all the earth. Who shall ascend into this 
holy hill? is the cry of the Psalmist; and now the 
song of the church militant is, — 

" Come, ye who love the Lord, and let your joys be known. 

The Hill of Zion yields a thousand sacred sweets 
Before we reach the heavenly fields, or walk its golden 
streets." 

The song of the prophets was, "How beautiful 
on the mountain the feet of Him who bringeth 
glad tidings ! O Zion, who bringeth good tidings, 
get thee up into the high mountain, lift up thy 
voice, fear not, say unto the cities of Judah, Be- 
hold your God ! Behold, the Lord God will come 
with a strong hand ; He will feed His flock like 
a shepherd." # 

So the hearts of the people w r ere imbued with 

* John x. 11; Is. xl. 9, 10. 



CHRIST OUR REDEEMER. 81 

the thought, "I will lift up mine eyes unto the 
hills, from whence cometh my help." "As the 
mountains stand round about Jerusalem, so stand- 
eth the Lord round about His people." 

Centuries pass. Captivity has fettered the care- 
less people of God, who, reckless of the Word, and 
teaching the commandments of men as sacred, are 
seen lapsed from their brilliant prosperity into 
darkness, even as the shadow of death. On the 
hill country of Judea shines forth the light of 
j God as the angels sing, " Glory to God in the 
highest ; peace on earth." The shepherds, hearing 
these strains of praise, seek out the Babe of Beth- 
lehem, and having seen the Christ, return to their 
daily tasks filled with rejoicing. 

Years go by. The darkness seems only to 
deepen, while Jesus of Nazareth goes about all 
Galilee, teaching, preaching the gospel, and heal- 
ing all manner of sickness and dis-ease among 
the people, and great multitudes follow Him.* 
Seeing the multitudes, He went up into a moun- 
tain, and He opened His mouth, and taught them. 

* Matt. iv. 23, 25. 



82 THE WORD AND THE TEACHER. 






Do we, even in this remote land and time, need 
to be told what He then taught ? 

Again He has compassion on the multitude, and 
feeding them with the few small loaves, sends 
them away, and goes apart in a mountain to pray. 
The storm arising, He walks forth on the midnight 
wave to defend His disciples. 

Standing on the Mount of Transfiguration, the 
eternal light shines through His earthly surround- 
ings,. and we begin to see Him as He is; while in 
dread darkness closes the solemn vision of Mount 
Calvary, crowned with its cross and the Crucified. 

Finally, from the Mount of Ascension,^ Jesus of 
Nazareth is received into the clouds of heaven, 
from which '" in like manner He shall return," and 
"His feet shall stand on the Mount of Olives." f 
The prophecy reads, " How beautiful on the moun- 
tains the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, 
that publisheth peace; that saith to Zion, Thy 
God reigneth. The watchmen shall lift up the 
voice, and sing together; they shall see eye to eye 
when the Lord will bring again Zion." 

* Mark xvi. 19; Acts i. 11. t Zech. xiv. 4. 



CHRIST OUR REDEEMER. 83 

This is taken from the custom of placing, on the 
high lands around a city, watchmen to herald the 
coming of any foe, or of any royal visitor. These 
heralds were placed near enough to see one 
another's signals, or " eye to eye," as the prophet 
says. 

So this mountain way may be traced from Sinai 
to Calvary. The summits rise in continuous chain, 
through the historic period, as heralds of the King 
of Kings, from Sinai to Calvary — a royal suc- 
cession, making manifest the law or word given, 
and the law or word fulfilled; while beyond, on 
either hand, they are seen through the dimness 
like isles of light. In the past, we see afar off the 
mountains of rest; while, at the very close of 
revelation, the Spirit takes us into the high moun- 
tain,* where is seen the city of God descending 
from heaven upon this great centre of all natural 
beauty. So through the future we see these 
" mountain tops appearing," to recall to us that 
the end is not yet; they rend through the veil of 
darkness which shrouded Calvary; the Light of 

* Kev. xxi. 10. 



84 TEE WORD AND TEE TEACEEB. 

Life is seen upon its cross, and it becomes to 
the wide world the mysterious Shekinah, making 
manifest the presence of God. The noblest of 
God's children, who have lived from that time, 
say, with the zealous apostle and splendid scholar, 
" I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. God 
forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our 
Lord Jesus Christ." 

"In the cross of Christ I glory, towering o'er the wrecks 
of time, 
All the light of sacred story mantling on its head sub- 
lime." 

And God saw that it was good. (Gen. i. 10.) 

We have seen how the earth was born of flame 
and water, and its dull chaos of matter transformed 
to organized beauty of mountain range and valley. 
We have watched the mountain tops in their slow 
uprising to heaven's height, where, crowned with 
light, they seemed to stand in perpetual memo- 
rial of that first-revealed blessing of God. 

The grandeur and sublimity of the mountain 
range appeals to all ; but inspiration, in leading us 



CHRIST OUR REDEEMER. 85 

to watch its slow uprising, with steady growth 
heavenward, teaches us the simple elements of 
that grandeur, showing us the perfect work of 
patience. 

The essential greatness of this quality is not 
always felt, but it forms the corner and key-stone 
of the rarest traits. Our Saviour bids us in pa- 
tience possess our souls, in contrast to the world's 
life, which, drifting in vagueness, becomes pos- 
sessed, as it were, by outward accident, — turned 
in any direction by the chance of the day; while 
the Christian, with fixed purpose to seek first the 
kingdom of God, — His rule and presence in the 
soul, — will find all things else associated closely 
with such true allegiance. We, who keep the 
word for Christ's sake, are companions in this 
"kingdom and patience of Jesus;" and in the 
thought of God toward ois, — made manifest in 
"fullness of time" on Calvary, — we learn some- 
thing of this patience, or long suffering, as chief 
element in the boundless love and tenderness of 
our God. 

The Rock of Ages shines forth more and more 



86 THE WORD AND THE TEACHER. 

with transfiguration light as time flows on to 
eternity ; from Ararat to Zion,^ the Mount of God 
stands as the refuge and rest for His people. In 
this divine benediction, we find promise and 
prophecy of a God at hand, and not afar off; that 
is, of an Emmanuel, God with us, the God of all pa- 
tience and comfort, made fully known in our New 
Testament. No longer servants of the God of 
Judgment, we are now at home with the heart 
of God. Holding fast to the " word of patience," f 
the blessing of God must crown our lives, for such 
is the promise. 

The splendid results of this patient allegiance 
to God are taught not only in the grand moun- 
tains always pointing heavenward, as it were the 
great cathedral spires of this fair temple of God's 
building, our earth ; but in other phases of Nature, 
the same lesson is learned. By the subtle agen- 
cies of heat and moisture, the stubborn, unprofit- 
able clay is changed in process of time to the 
royal ruby ; the unstable, treacherous sand be- 
comes the cloud-like opal with its heart of fire; 

* Rev. xxi. 10. t Rev. iii. 10. 






CHRIST OUR REDEEMER. 87 

while, yet more wonderful, the coal dust, whose 
touch is pollution, becomes the diamond, radiant 
with light, and more lasting than the mountains. 
The same power which built up the mighty hills, 
and in their dark caverns glorified these fragments 
of earth, clothing them with light and imperishable 
beauty — the same power of God seeks to work 
in our earthly lives, and with baptism of water 
and fire, or the Word and the Spirit,* fashion our 
souls into jewels of Jehovah, f to abide with Him 
forever. In jewels of the rock or earth, there are 
two requisites for the perfect crystal: one is the 
constant presence of the agent of transforming 
power; the other, that the line of crystallization 
be not disturbed, by which all the particles are 
gathered toward one invisible central point; and 
then the law of its crystallic life begins, and is 
perfected. So with our souls; seeking first the 
kingdom or rule of God, the abiding Presence 
enters with its newness of life, and we are re- 
created in the lost likeness, and become jewels 
of the Rock of Ages. 

* John iii. t Mai. iii. 17. 



88 THE WORD AND THE TEACHER. 

Let this fixed purpose, with its loyal allegiance, 
enter our life, — all its littleness, its waste moments, 
its daily chances come under the divine touch, — 
and our lives must bloom with the fruits of the 
Spirit (joy and holiness), as the earth with flowers 
and gems. " Hold thee still upon God, and wait 
patiently," and He will be found working in our 
daily lives, breathing through the inmost soul. 
"I have known thy patience," while making us 
finished homes in His temple of life. 

And God said. Let the Earth bring forth Grass, 
and Fruit Tree, yielding Fruit after its hind; 
and it was so. (Gen. i. 11.) 

God gives the word, and over hill and valley 
rise up the answering host, the unnumbered mul- 
titudes of plant-life, with flower and fruit, forever 
and unalterably after its kind. Each kind, even 
to the tiniest flower that blooms, is a thought of 
God — a special creation ; teaching us of the in- 
finite mind, as well as of the sacredness of each 
individuality, whether in plant or soul life, setting 



CHRIST OUR REDEEMER. 89 

that as the royal signet of Creatorship, and loving 
token that God is our Father. 

From pole to tropic, from sea-shore to mountain- 
crest, comes forth the thronging life, never yet 
numbered by man. "Consider the lilies of the 
field," and the mystery of life meets us. Of these 
myriad million forms of life, only a few thousand 
are well known to man. All have their use and 
power, and though theirs is an open secret, it is 
for the most part as yet unlearned. 

The grass of the field is made the staff of life ; 
yet, if we try to enter into the source and manner 
of its being, human reason is dumb before the 
infinite mystery of life, and bows before the 
almighty power of the Word, which speaks, and 
the stones of the earth answer back with the lilies 
of the field; and with the blessing of God, the earth 
is decked with the garlands of life and victory. 
The word is spoken, and the low grass of the 
plains, the forest life of the hills, become the daily 
life of earth. Where the Word entered, came 
life, with its bloom and fruitage in varied suc- 
cession ; for " the grass withereth, and the flower 



90 THE WORD AND THE TEACHER. 

fadeth, but the word of our God abideth for- 
ever." # 

The same Word speaks to our souls, and what is 
the answer of our daily life? for each soul has in 
it a God-thought; each one is a special creation, 
and in the sought presence of the Word and Spirit 
abundant bloom must be found. 

Meanwhile, through the slow-flowing ages, the 
serried ranks of the thick forest lifted their stately- 
heads heavenward, and in due time became en- 
balmed in Nature's storehouse, where leaf and 
flower of each day or aeon lie in that great her- 
barium ; one grand volume of which is formed by 
our coal strata. Together they form a great com- 
pany of silent witnesses to the power of the crea- 
tive Word. The light itself, scattered broadcast 
over those comparatively lifeless eras, is treasured ; 
and from this rich storehouse, filled with the 
wealth of untold ages, we are now cheered and 
warmed with the sunshine and bloom of the past. 
So, in the Creator's sight, all is sacred, and noth- 
ing, however slight, is of little worth. All these 

* Is. xl. 8; Joknxii. 34. 



CHRIST OUR REDEEMER. 91 

facts of Nature remind us of the Presence which 
seeks our lives, to sanctify even the least things 
with its pure, loving atmosphere, and in whose 
sight "even the hairs of your head are numbered," 
and not a sparrow falls to the ground unheeded. 

Plant-life specially suggests the thought of 
patient obedience. The luxuriant willow grows 
by the sunny water-course with its refreshing 
shade : afar in the Arctic Zone we find again the 
willow ; but under its adverse circumstances, it 
reaches only a few inches in height; yet, in every 
angle of leaf and branch, it is an unmistakable 
willow tree. The noble evergreens, often of colos- 
sal size, are distinguished from one another by the 
number of slender leaflets grouped together. 

Through just such slight distinctions the great 
orders of natural science have been traced out; 
showing us the sacreclness of little things in the 
sight of God, and reminding us how our lives 
must be judged and perfected, not by the great- 
ness of their work, but by the fixed purpose of 
obedience and allegiance which should animate 
them. 



92 THE WORD AND THE TEACHER. 

The earthly life of Christ teaches the same 
example of perfected obedience to the law or word 
of life, even unto death on the cross ; while the 
lives of the patriarchs, enrooted deeply in the 
Rock of Ages, stand out as conspicuous examples 
of humbly taking God at His word. Thus walk- 
ing with Him in simple obedience, they became 
not only blessed in themselves, but a blessing to 
many, and are uplifted before the eyes of the 
nations as the stately cedars of Lebanon — even 
trees of the Lord's planting. 

In the development of this manifold plant-life, 
the same powers, so often noted, of heat and moist- 
ure, are the active agencies; while the same fixed 
centre or line of growth marks all healthy growth 
as the plant ceaselessly presses upward to the free, 
full light of heaven, and the flower unfolds its 
loveliness in the sun — all of which only shadows 
forth the true allegiance of the soul to God. 

Oh, for this steadiness of upward looking and 
allegiance in Christ's Church! What an untold 
wealth of joy and bloom would fill the wide world, 
as it does to-day each heart which has gained this 



CHRIST OUR REDEEMER. 93 

open secret ! Guided by inspiration, we may take 
Nature as one of God's appointed messengers, 
" leading us to His holy hill, where it pleases Him 
to dwell." 

The earth stablished in the floods is now 
"decked with its offspring," and the beauty of 
plant-life sweeps like a vast ocean, — surging even 
to the hill-tops, — until it reaches a limit where its 
green life-wave ceases in the white death-robe 
Nature sometimes wears. This rests on the 
mountain-tops as a crown of glorious ephemeral 
crystals, formed from air and the dew of heaven 
which feeds the forest life below; while it shines 
forth with the untold glories of the life beyond 
and above all earthly form of beauty, to which 
death itself is but the gateway. 

So stands the Rock of Ages, our great High 
Priest, who, bearing on shoulder and heart the 
names of His people, has passed into the heavens, 
where " He ever liveth to intercede ; " and always 
since that hour has the Light of life and immor- 
tality shone plainly through the opened gate- 
way. 



94 THE WORD AND THE TEACHER. 

And the Earth brought forth Tree, yielding Fruit 
after his Kind, and God saw that it tvas Good. 
(Gen. i. 12.) 

" He cried unto the Lord, and the Lord showed him a tree, which, 
when he had cast into the waters, the waters were made sweet. I 
am Jehovah that healeth thee." (Ex. xv. 23, 27.) 

In the wilderness, the multitude thirsted unto 
death by the side of the bitter waters. The Lord 
gave a tree, which, cast obediently into the waters, 
healed as it touched them ; the bitterness was 
changed to sweetness, and the dying lived. 

We have looked on Calvary, crowned with its 
death tree; and now, looking through the cen- 
turies which stretch between us and that dark 
hour, we find on this smitten tree engrafted the 
Life of the world. 

The barren death tree stands out as the smitten 
root of Jesse,* foreshadowed in a measure by the 
withered almond bough or rod of the high priest,t 
which bloomed and bore fruit after its kind, and 
then was brought into the holy of holies — the 

* Is. xi. 1. | Numb. xvii. 8, 10; Heb. ix. 4. 



CIIRIST OUR REDEEMER. 95 

very presence of God. In a word, we have be- 
fore us the Tree of Life, for the healing of the 
nations. 

For the tree of the field is man's life : in any 
siege thou shalt not cut it down,* is written in 
the Law; showing God's tenderness over all His 
works. Again it is written, " Cursed f is every 
one who hangeth on a tree;" % yet even thus has 
the Christ suffered to redeem us from the curse 
of the law ; bearing for us our burdens of sin and 
pain, that we, dying to sin, should live unto right- 
eousness, and so be healed ; and the evil graft of 
our poor life become good and fruitful, in abiding 
union with the Tree of Life. 

Again we see the perfect work of patience, and 
how experience worketh hope. The hour which 
seemed the final triumph of force over righteous- 
ness, injustice over meekness, has in it the seed- 
grain of immortality — a leaven of eternal power 
drawn from obedience to the Word. In the brief 
saying, "To-day thou shalt be with me in para- 
dise," in answer to the prayer, "Lord, remember 

* Deut. xx. 19. t Deut. xxi. 23. \ Gal. iii. 13. 



96 TEE WOBD AND TEE TEACEER. 

me ," we find how our soul's life, by the good graft 
of penitence and the leaven of prayer, may to-day 
become one with the resurrection life of our Prince 
and Saviour # in the paradise of God. With far 
more power than the stern, far-off grandeur of 
Sinai, with its trumpet tone of thunder, does the 
cross of Calvary draw heart and eye of humanity 
to worship Him in whom all contradictions are 
reconciled, and all uncertainties set at rest. While 
the soul's cry still goes up from the weary and sin- 
laden, "Lord, remember me," the "Sin-bearer," 
with "whose stripes we are healed," draws near, 
even the Lord of life and death, to " heal and 
make alive." 

In revelation, all realms of Nature are searched 
to bring tribute to their King, who is head of all, 
and to shadow forth His attributes and praise. 
In the light of the Spirit, all Nature seems one 
grand parable of the Godhead,f and Christ the 
Word, who comes forth from God, that the soul 
may find its home. 

From time to time we find how the heathen 

* Acts v. 30, 32. f Rom. i. 20. 



CHRIST OUR REDEEMER. 97 

mind has caught up fragments of the revelation 
offered to all, but carelessly rejected by the mass 
of mankind, until its only hold is in strange myths, 
curiously woven from eternal truth and human 
fancy. Few of these have taken stronger hold 
than the mysterious Tree of Life ; whose sacred 
attributes and power of healing, from the divine 
Being it embodied, were worshiped by our own 
Saxon forefathers and the Norsemen. Until com- 
paratively recent times, Igdrasyl, or the Sacred 
Ash, held power over these devotees; while in the 
sunnier East we find the Sacred Fig or Banyan 
revered for its exceeding fruitfulness, and its 
wondrous life-power, shown in the myriad life 
springing from one common root or tree; fit 
emblem of the free communion of new life, spring- 
ing from the seed of faith, the Word of God. * 
So, from East to West, far as the sun shines, 
the heart of man responds to these emblems as 
they shadow forth the mysteries of the God- 
head and the power of the Word. But revela- 

* Matt. xiii. 19; Luke viii. 11. 

7 



98 THE WORD AND THE TEACHER. 

tion only can be a sure guide, and the Spirit's 
presence must be sought as Interpreter, for unto 
" Christ's flock it is given, thus to understand the 
mysteries of His kingdom." 

And the Evening and the Morning were the Third 
Day. (Gen. i. 13.) 

The long, dreary night of this third age or aeon 
ends in the glad morning of perpetual bloom ; God 
having stablished this earth, born from the chang- 
ing, restless sea, for a tabernacle of life ; while 
day unto day uttereth speech, night unto night 
showeth knowledge, "testifying of the Creative 
Word." " Before the mountains were brought 
forth, or ever Thou hadst formed the earth, from 
everlasting to everlasting (age to age) Thou art 
God." "For a thousand years in Thy sight are 
as yesterday, seeing that is past as a watch in the 
night. Thou earnest them away as with a flood; 
1?hey are like the grass which groweth up." So 
teach us to number our days that we may apply 
our hearts to wisdom. Let the beauty of the 



CHRIST OUR REDEEMER. 99 

Lord our God be upon us, and stablish Thou the 

works of our hands. " One thing have I desired 

of the Lord, to behold the beauty of the 

Lord ; for in the time of trouble He 

will hide me in the secret of His 

tabernacle. He shall set 

me on a Rock." 




DAY OR AGE CEON) FOURTH. 

Gen. i. 14-19. 

THE LIGHTS OF EARTH AND HEAVEN; 



%isi t\t ML 



I am the Light of the world ; he that followeth Me shall not walk 
in darkness, but shall have the light of life. John viii. 12. 



The Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord will give grace and 
glory. Ps. lxxxiv. il. John i. 17. 




(101) 




CHRIST THE LIGHT. 



^^^AR as language can be traced in the distant 
past, certain words are found which in 
varied form reappear in every tongue. 
One of these primitives or roots of speech (aur) 
is found in its Hebrew form, in verse 3, trans- 
lated light. Somewhat modified, it occurs in 
verse 14 (maurt), in which form we find it in 
Exodus xxxv. 14, where it indicates the flame of 
a lamp, or, in this case, that of the sacred light- 
bearer, or candlestick of the sanctuary. 

Again, in the phrase, two great lights (Hame- 
roth), the word is from the same source, and 
indicates the sun, as simply a light-bearer. The 
facts of sunshine, suggested in these few verses, 
have been but recently learned by science; as, 
for instance, that the sun's light comes mainly 
(103) 



104 THE WORD AND THE TEACHER. 

from the photosphere or envelope of gaseous flame, 
which is quite independent of its main mass, the 
exact nature of this mass being unknown ; but 
the spectroscope makes daily advances on this 
far off region of mystery. The light of the pho- 
tosphere is subject to immense variations in inten- 
sity from magnetic or chemical changes, so that 
the sevenfold light of Isaiah (xxx. 26) is entirely 
within range of physical possibility. On the other 
hand, the sun may have existed for ages as a dark 
star, or might become so now in a very short time. 
That the sun shall be darkened, and the moon not 
give her light, and the stars cease shining, is an 
expression often found in the words of our Saviour 
and the prophets. "All the lights of the light of 
heaven will I make dark, and set darkness over 
thee, saith the Lord God."* 

From the essential light, then, is prepared, by 
the Word of God, our sunlight, attempered and 
modified for earthly life as it now is. The earlier 
icons call us to look with the inspired writer at 
the eternal years of God, but now the word comes, 

* Matt. xxiv. 29; Joel ii. 31; Ezek. xxii. 8, margin. 



CHRIST TEE LIGHT. 105 

and the light flowing through these timeless seons 
is regulated to rule man's little day. It is far from 
the truth to say that the Bible limits these days 
as to time. The Jews even, bound to the letter 
as they were, held that the days of God were as 
a thousand years, while inspiration in this fourth 
aeon speaks of the beginning of time, — thus point- 
ing to the eras that were absolutely timeless, — 
and bids us watch for the day when " time shall 
be no longer." " The wreck of matter and the 
crush of worlds " are but the promise of a new 
heaven and new earth, and that stormy dawning 
of the eternal day will lead to perfect redemption 
for the children of light. 5 * 

In speaking of these earlier manifestations of 
light, it is well to keep in mind its manifold 
sources and varieties, from the intense electric 
flash of earth-born light to that of the far-off star. 
The most brilliant among the fixed stars are not 
those nearest our earth ; and within record, marked 
variations in color and intensity of light are fre- 
quent. In some cases this occurs in fixed periods; 

* Mark xiii. 24, 32; Luke xii. 28, 33. 



106 TEE WORD AND TEE TEACEEB. 

in others a gradual increase or waning in bril- 
liancy through centuries, traced only by the fact 
of their differing in rank now from the earlier 
catalogues. Others, again, have burst into intense 
conflagration of months' duration. 

Mathematical analysis indicates, in some cases, 
the probable existence of dark stars, where no ray 
of light is visible, reminding us that any such 
change in our light-bearer need not affect the mass 
or outline of the star, for such is our sun, — one 
among the many fixed stars, so called by the 
ancients in distinction from the planets or wan- 
derers, now known as the sun's satellites, of which 
our earth is one. 

From the probable manner of the formation of 
the sun and its attendant planets, the cosmical 
flame-lights must have surged through and beyond 
the space now tenanted by our solar system for 
ages. It would be useless to attempt to measure, 
any more than to estimate, what periods of light 
and darkness may have followed each other; as 
these must have been limited more by the fierce 
electric and chemical changes coincident with the 



C HEIST THE LIGHT 107 

formation of crust and fixed orbit of these heav- 
enly bodies, rather than by any revolution on 
their axes. 

Some idea of this intensity of action we can 
gain even now, as the spectroscope and other 
instruments enable us to watch the magnetic sun 
storms, which are often echoed in earth's tem- 
pests, while at other times gaseous flames of vast 
dimensions burst forth with volcanic force from 
regions, it would seem, far below the photosphere, 
or usual source of light. 

These tempests tend to form cloud masses that 
imprison each orb with its own flames, neither 
transmitting nor receiving rays of light from the 
worlds without; and even as this state of things 
passes away in the constant change of that mobile 
matter, the atmosphere would be heavily charged 
with vapor, transmitting heat far more readily 
than light. Some idea of this we may gather 
from the thick, murky air of tropic forests, spread- 
ing over vast areas of marsh land, where heat and 
moisture prevail, rather than light. Such, we are 
told, must have been the state of the earth's atmos- 



108 THE WORD AND THE TEACHER. 

phere during the growth of the forests of our great 
coal era, which form so marked a feature of the 
third aeon. 

So we have some glimpse of the possibilities 
and probabilities of light, before the era when the 
King of kings set light in the firmament of heaven 
as ruler over earthly life. All light, whether earth- 
born, cosmical, or essential and eternal, cometh 
from the "Father of light," who prepares for us 
the sunshine to bless our daily life, and fit us for 
the perfect glory which abideth in the heavens. 
Of this eternal or essential light we catch some 
glimpse in Scripture. St. Paul, for instance, as 
he travels, in the hot haste of his zealous good 
works, through the heat of the Syrian noon, with 
" its sunbeams like swords," sees a light from 
heaven brighter than that sunshine. He cries 
out, " Who art thou ? " as he hears the voice 
speaking to him, and as the answer comes, "I 
am Jesus of Nazareth," he prays, "Lord, what 
wilt thou have me to do?" The answer to this 
prayer we find in his humble, patient waiting for 
three years, until the abiding light of the Presence 



CHBIST TEE LIGHT. 109 

leads him to supernatural power of working, even 
as it seeks to lead us all. 

Again, on the Mount of Transfiguration, we see 
something of this light, which is again associated 
with the Christ. At the close of revelation, when 
time ceases in eternity, the city of God, that home 
with the many mansions, has no need of the sun, 
for the glory of God enlightens it, the Lamb is 
the light thereof, and it is thus the "Lord God 
giveth them light." Of the power of this glorious 
gift, the believer in the Word has some conscious- 
ness even here on earth, for God, who commanded 
light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our 
hearts, to give the knowledge of the glory of 
God in the face of Jesus Christ. 

The Dawn or Day-Spring. (Luke i. 78, 79.) 

Let us look again at this primitive of speech 
(aur), which stands for light, and follow it through 
various shades of meaning among many races ; in 
a word, trace out its kindred. There is one asso- 
ciation, which must always be hallowed; in the 
Hebrew (in plural form) we find it in the urim 



110 TEE WORD AND TEE TEACEER. 

and thummim, or sacred breastplate, worn on the 
heart of the high priest when he entered the holy 
place; the meaning of the name being light and 
perfection, or, as commonly rendered, revelation 
and truth. So we of the Christian church, with 
the revelation of truth in our hearts, and the Spirit 
of truth teaching and leading us, not only enter 
the Presence, with its safety and healing, but 
should so commune with these sacred teachings 
that we can freely minister of the fullness God 
gives to those who stand without, whom Christ 
still seeks. 

In the Egyptian, this word became the river or 
flood, — used often for the Nile, — from the original 
meaning of the root, to flow, or flowing swiftly ; 
whence, also, it is aptly and beautifully applied 
to the undulations of light; and more indirectly, 
we have, through the Greek, hour, or the measure 
of swift-flowing time. The prosaic Latins preserve 
it in aurum (gold), from the color of the sunshine, 
while the plastic Greek tongue gives us numerous 
derivations, among which we possess aureola, halo 
or crown of glory, and aurora, dawn or day-spring. 



C HEIST THE LIGHT. Ill 

So the threefold great thoughts of light, the 
saviour of our physical world, time, the measurer 
or ruler of life, and the glory of dawn, blend in 
the beginning in one. 

This fourth aeon of sunlight is the era of dawn; 
all things as they now are begin there. The be- 
ginning of time, which is the preface of our present 
life, the fountain of life and light, are made mani- 
fest, as, through the tender mercy of our God, this 
day-spring from on high visits the earth. 

We are specially told that the facts of this day 
of Jehovah are for signs and seasons. Can we 
fail to see, as we glance through the inspired 
record, the prophetic promise of this early dawn; 
whose wondrous glory fades before the coming of 
that Day-spring or dawn of eternity,* with whom 
is the source or fountain of essential light,f and 
from whose coming all our daily life dates anew 
as from the beginning? 

Let us dwell reverently on the speech of this 
day of God as the word comes to us through its 
light ; though it be foreign to our natural tongue, 

* Luke i. 78. t Ps. xxxvi. 9. 



L12 THE WOK I) AND THE TEACHER. 

we cannot but learn how "the heavens are telling* 
of the glory of God, * and the earth echoes back 
His praise, 

This era of (lie dawn, with its glory and won- 
derful revelation, foretells that dawn over the 
WOrld that would bring light even in the shadow 
of death. For this long-promised coining waited 
the people of God, in the darkness of captivity, as 
"they who watch for the morning," t s * v y* m g to priest 
and leader, "Watchman, what of the night?" 
The ailSWer is, M The morning oometh, and also 
the night." So we may have seen the day-dawn 
come slowly on in some cloudy morning. Alter- 
nately the storm clouds prevail with their gloom, 
or, breaking away, become rainbowdiued messen- 
gers oi' the glory of the light that must conquer. 
So came the dawn of the Light oi % life on earth, t 
In feeblene8S lonff the darkness struggled against 
it, and still struggles, though the victory, sealed in 
blood, is manifest and inevitable. 

Now, as over the wide earth this "morning 
light is breaking, the darkness disappears," and 

* 1Kb. i. 3. t Pi. MUCK. «. t ♦John i. 4; viii. 12. 



CHBIBT THE LIGHT. 118 

though the shadows of life may still be as thick 
darkness, their very blackness only proves the 
powerful presence of the sunlight. Ah day suc- 
ceeds night, so in our soul's life darkness alternates 
with light, that we may be the better fitted for 
the eternal weight of glory that shall he revealed 
gradually to the children of Light, as our Saviour 

calls the believers in the word/ Kvcn here we 
may become partakers of that glory f which floww 
from the Sun of Righteousness, ascended in high 
Leaven, with beams of perfect healing and perfect 
power, % into the hearts of the faithful. 

The association which will be constantly kept 
before the believer by the God-given name of the 
holy breastplate worn on the high priest's heart 

makes it a "memorial forever" from God Himself 
that life and light are found with the revelation 

or word of God. The blending of the threefold 

leading thoughts of the primitive of light in one 
Source recalls the Bible summary in this era of day- 
dawn of the manifold powers of light, being also 

threefold: 1. To rule or regulate; 2. To divide 

* John xii. .'JO, 40, 48, 50. f 1 Petef v. 1. | Mai. iv. 2. 

8 



114 THE WORD AND THE TEACHER. 

between ; 3. To give light or enlighten. " God 
made two great lights, the greater light to rule 
the day:"* "and God said, Let them be for signs 
and seasons." t 

"The sun shining in its strength "$ is a perfect 
emblem of a king in his power — we may say of 
the King of kings — as it is almighty over the 
physical life and forces of this earth, and from 
the creation is pointed out as the one to rule the 
day ; that is to say, the ruler of light and life. 

The full measure of this rule has been but 
recently recognized by science, which is daily 
making discoveries of its nature, and of the widely 
extended sway of its kingdom. The sun rules to 
bless, and its unnumbered subjects are in thorough 
and glad allegiance. Enthroned far off in heaven, 
its presence is powerful everywhere, even to the 
ends of the world, except when deliberately shut 
out. Perfect in majesty, omnipotent and omni- 
present over earth, we cannot doubt of whom it 
is a sign, as it measures out in kingly life-power 
the wealth and span of life to each zone from pole 

* Gen. i. 1C. f Gen. i. H. \ Rev. i. 10; 2 Cor. iv. 4, f>. 



CHRIST THE LIGHT. 115 

to tropic. The changing seasons tell of its power, 
while the rush of Niagara's many waters, as well as 
the glancing foam, are but a whisper of the force 
and motive power it brings on earth ; while, the 
wide world over, the least flower that blooms turns 
its face to the sun, the life giver, and seeks first 
that touch from heaven to fall on its lowly life, and 
perfect it. Even to the stateliest forest tree, all 
nature presses upward toward heaven's light; if 
this pure intuition lived also in the soul of man, 
each daily life would bloom as the spring-tide 
with its resurrection power and fullness of life. 

God gave the sunshine as a sign, and what it 
signifies is written out in letters of light, that none 
might fail to know and love its lifeful meaning; 
that none might fail to seek, and therefore find, 
the sunshine of the soul — the presence of Christ, 
the ascended Saviour, who is the Sun of Right- 
eousness.* The healing beams of light come with 
true resurrection power, making manifest the royal 
victory over darkness, death, and evil, while as 
promise and memorial of His coming shines forth 

* Mai. iv. 2. 



116 THE WORD AND THE TEACHER. 

our sun, at each day-dawn, when the night of dark- 
ness has passed. The light shines in the darkness; 
the darkness comprehends it not. Shutting it out, 
limiting it, as we do, it is still "the wonderful "* 
above all other things, — so much so, that if the 
record of the blessings wrought, the many things 
done through the power and presence of this 
king, | in one of the little days of this world's life, 
should be written, every one, even the w 7 orld itself 
could not contain the books that should be writ- 
ten; neither could they be numbered, any more 
than the wild flowers that bloom the world over 
in a day, or the rays of sunshine that fall in un- 
heeded blessing. The sun, king of our earth's life, 
was at the beginning of time crowned with light, 
decked with its glory as a coronation robe. Even 
as kings of old were anointed by priest and 
prophet in sign of their power from God to rule on 
earth, so in "fullness of time" is made manifest 
"the Sun of Righteousness," decked with the 
glory of God, X with all power in heaven and on 
earth. 

* Is. ix. 6. t John xxi. 25. \ Heb. i. 3; Is. xlviii. 11. 



CHRIST THE LIGHT. 117 

The word translated to rule, is that usually 
associated with kingly authority ; while the same 
root conveys the idea of speaking in parables.* 
This blending of thought has not been clearly 
traced, but it is only a king over the truth he 
would convey, who can suitably render it in para- 
bles. Whatever the true chain which binds these 
thoughts in one, the association cannot but recall 
the One who teaches the world in parables. 
Veiled in human guise, His whole life on earth 
forms a parable, through which shines the light 
of life, as with a word the Christ heals the mul- 
titudes who follow Him; and now "not here, but 
risen" to the throne of heaven, the powerful 
presence of our King comes everywhere, even 
as the sunshine, to seek and save the lost, whether 
captive in the wilderness of sin, or sitting dumb 
in the night of sorrow, or in the dark shadow 
of death. 

Over the darkness of the world dawned the 
true eternal Light. The gladness of that sun-rising 
was the gospel or glad tidings of the Christ, who 

* Ezck. xx. 49. 



118 THE WORD AND THE TEACHER. 

hath abolished death, and brought life and immor- 
tality to light;* of whose appearing to the church 
and to each soul the prophet speaks, saying, 
"Arise, shine; for thy light is corne : the glory of 
Jehovah is risen upon thee : darkness shall cover 
the earth, and thick darkness the people : but the 
Lord shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be 
seen. The Gentiles shall come to thy light, and 
kings to the brightness of thy rising." f " The 
Redeemer shall come to Zion, and unto them that 
turn from transgressions." X " Truly the light is 
sweet, and a pleasant thing it is for the eyes to 
behold the sun;" it is a gift from God, precious 
in itself, yet most precious as the sign from God 
of "the Light of the world" which abicleth forever. 

Christy the ascended Saviour, the Sun of Right- 
eousness. (Mai. iv. 2.) 

The glory of the dawn, the splendor of the 
sunshine, are songs, without w r ords, of Nature's 
praise, the great picture parable which teaches 
of the ascended Saviour, the King of Righteous- 

* 2 Tim. i. 10. f Is. lx. 3. J Is. lix. 20. 



CHRIST THE LIGHT. 119 

ness, called by the prophets the " Sun of Right- 
eousness," as His appointed emblem is the sun 
shining in its strength, and the sunshine is but the 
sign or signet of His power. His earthly life was 
a parable of God's friendship for us, the noblest 
expression of His supreme love. Let us grasp 
firmly the human hand held out # to guide us 
in our darkness, and to uphold us in weakness, 
and we find the touch comes to us as that of the 
King of Life, quickening the soul with strength and 
healing from God. Of old they touched the hem of 
Christ's garment, and were healed; but now, com- 
ing to the Christ, this wonderful touch brings with 
it His resurrection power ; so that to follow Jesus 
is to be partaker of this power, enabling us to 
look and live in the light which no mere man can 
approach, where He abides enthroned, who only 
has immortality,! even our King of Kings and 
Lord of Lords. 

* Matt. xi. 28. 

t 1 Tim. vi. 15, 16; Rev. xvii. 14; ibid. xix. 13, 16. 



120 TEE WORD AND THE TEACHER. 
The Light to rule the Night. 

tl He appointed the moon for seasons." (Ph. civ. H).) 

" The commandment in a lamp, and the law iH light." (Prov. vi. 23.) 

The sun is still an unknown land ; the ever- 
present sunshine shares in the mystery of its be- 
ing. Among the positive faets concerning it is its 
threefold or triune nature, which we know as the 
light, heat, and actinic rays, which are made visible 
or manifest to us by the light-ray. The wonderful 
and varied powers embodied in these rays act 
either in unity or separately and individually. 
One marked instance of this separate action is in 
the light that rules the night, which is the light- 
ray of the sun reflected to us by the earth's satel- 
lite or servant, the moon. 

The changes of the moon ruled in great meas- 
ure the rites of heathen festivals. Diana, Queen 
of the Night, held firmer sway than many a famed 
monarch. Allusion to the Saturnalia attendant on 
some such celebrations we find in the ornaments 
worn by the Jews when lapsed into idolatry.* 

* Is. ill. 18; Judges vlii. 21, margin. 



CUR 1ST TEE LIGHT. 121 

These changes hare always formed a readily 
available method of computing time, and this is 
still the ease in our current months, to which the 
moon gives its name. Through the Old Testa- 
ment, and even in the New, we are often reminded 
of this; the Jewish sacred serviee depended en- 
tirely on the time of the new and full moon, and 
chief of all their feasts was the Passover, whieh 
began the saered year. The Christian ehureh also 
keeps this as high holiday Under the name of 
paster, whieh comes at the time of the Passover 
full moon. 

We have seen a little of the sun's glad rule' over 
the children of eternal light, but here we are led 
to consider the rule this light sent of God exer- 
cises over the outside world whieh knows not God, 
and how this has been a sign to them. 

We look back to the time of the Pharaohs, the 
founders of the pyramids, whose building shows 

EBueh rare skill. The one of whom we have most 
knowledge is seen in sacred history confronting 
the word of God with his own power; the plagues 
or warnings from God came unheeded, and thick 



122 THE WORD AND THE TEACHER. 

darkness fell on the land, but "all the children 
of Israel had light." Now these Israelites were 
slaves of Pharaoh ; they were also the people of 
God. May we not date the phrase " children of 
light" from this? 

Pharaoh still questions the power of the Word, 
and the answer from God will live through time, as 
His " two-edged sword " is caused to pass over the 
land, dividing the people of God unto Himself. 
The command from Jehovah was, "Take the blood 
of a lamb without blemish," "sprinkle the door- 
posts, and when I see the blood, I will pass over, 
and will not suffer the destroyer to smite." And 
at midnight the Lord smote all the first-born of 
Egypt, from Pharaoh to the captive in the dun- 
geon, and the cattle, but to the Israel of God, who 
had given heed to the Word, came redemption 
and its freedom. 

The Lord commanded that the Passover full 
moon should become the beginning of months, — 
the first month of the year, — and the day a 
memorial feast to Jehovah forever* The blood 

* Ex. xii. 



CHRIST TEE LIGET. 123 

of the " lamb without blemish " becomes a memo- 
rial sign from God of the night when the Word 
went forth "conquering and to conquer." 

The life of the Jewish race, as a nation, dates 
from that night, while the record of God's visible 
church has there its beginning. There is intense 
interest associated with several of their Passover 
celebrations, but none greater than with that held 
in the little upper room in Jerusalem while the Ro- 
man Caesar held "all the world" in an armed peace. 

In that little room we find Jesus of Nazareth, 
the true Prince of Peace, saying to His disciples, 
I With desire I have desired to eat this Passover 
with you before I suffer." Strange words, yet 
precious, taking the heart back to that wonderful 
night, with its mighty redemption, which God had 
commanded to be kept in glad and sacred remem- 
brance ; and a new " ordinance " for this feast was 
instituted as He took the cup, saying, " Drink ye 
all of it ; for this is My blood of the new testa- 
ment, which is shed for many for the remission 
of sins : do this, as oft as ye shall drink it, in 
remembrance of Me." 



124 TIIE WORD AND THE TEACHER. 
We pause at Gethsemane, where, on thisPassovef 

night, we find the Prince of Life again contending 
Willi the Destroyer; and the dread scene prepares 
us to watch one hour with the Crucified, and as 
the rocks are rended, and graves yield their dead, 
learn to gaze beyond the rent veil of humanity 
that shrouded for a time the "Light of the World," 
and look forward to the final Passover of sin and 
pain, when the Lord of Life, the Wonderful, the 
Counselor, the Prince of Peace, returns to meet 
the Church triumphant^ 

Let us watch by the cross until we learn some- 
thing of the power of the "eternal redemption" 
revealed to us, mightier far than that the Israelites 
rejoiced in, and since " Christ our passovcr is 
sacrificed for ns," keep this feast of God in "sin- 
cerity and truth." Thus to keep the feast is to 
joy in God* through our Lord Jesus, by whom 
we receive "atonement," or the "reconciliation" 
of friendship with its abiding union and presence, 
which forms our constant and mighty salvation. 

There is much of mystery, and even gloom, 

* Rom. v. 2. 



CUBIST THE LIGHT. 125 

around the cross, but the mystery is promise and 
prophecy of full revelation to the earnest-hearted 
seeker, while the gloom as well as mystery test 
the nominal disciples of Christ, whether they will 
follow wherever the Word may lead, or stop afar 
off, measuring the things of God by their own self- 
appointed standards, while they may also remind 
us that the subtle and wonderful thoughts of 
God toward us may well elude our human pow- 
ers, thus teaching us to listen and watch, prayer- 
fully and humbly, as the Word comes forth 
from God to make Him manifest to the wait- 
ing soul. 

Whatever the mystery, and however little care 
or thought the world may give to the Christ cru- 
cified, yet it has become the prominent fact of 
its history. The cross is the standard of Christen- 
dom ; therefore let us watch by the cross until 
our hearts are quickened by the patient, wondrous 
love revealed there, and listen to what God 
1 tells us of its meaning and life-power. "In the 
volume of the Book" His loving revelation is 
written ; and keeper of this stands the church 



126 THE WORD AND THE TEACHER. 

to-day, appointed from God to reflect to the 
world the healing light of the Sun of Right- 
eousness. 

This light, which is the way of life to humanity, 
is this God-given way of "the Crucified," and this 
way is strait and narrow as the sunbeam, that it 
may lead us the more directly home; mercifully so 
appointed that the child, the weak, the suffering, 
need not err or wander from it ; yet it is a high- 
way whereon the most splendidly gifted in heart 
and mind have found room and verge enough as 
they pressed forward in glad homage and alle- 
giance to their Leader and King. 

Years come and go, moons wax and wane, and 
still the feast is kept as the church holds forth 
these signs, and words, and facts of faith, to the 
myriad souls who join the communion or living 
unity of our Prince of Peace. How this reflected 
light has held sway on earth even the most super- 
ficially versed in history need not be told ; on the 
many eras and incidents which throng the memory 
we will not dwell; not even on the Reformation 
of Luther, which, based as it was entirely on the 



CHRIST THE LIGHT. 127 

Word of God, has shaken the thrones of Europe, 
and given rise to the mild form of self-government 
called a Republic : but will merely mention, in pass- 
ing illustration, one marked episode, which forms, 
as it were, the most brilliant romance in near two 
thousand years of history; that is, when the "kings 
of the earth " arose in contest for the Holy Sepul- 
chre, and the fate of Europe seemed to hang on 
the battles of the Crescent and the Cross. 



" God said, Lot there be lights, to divide between day and night, 
and light from darkness." (Gen. i. 14-18.) 

" Thou hast given me the shield of Thy salvation, Thy right hand 
hath holden me up, and Thy gentleness hath made me great." (Ps. 
' xviii. 35; xxxiii. 20.) 



To choose between good and evil is our con- 
stant life; from childhood each day brings its 
message from God, saying, as of old, "I bring 
'| heaven and earth to record this day. I have set 
1 before thee this day life and death, good and evil ; 
! choose now whom ye will serve, that thou mayst 
\ love the Lord thy God, and obey His voice, and 
! cleave unto Him, for He is thy life."* In the 

* Deut. xxx. 19, 20. 



128 THE WORD AND THE TEACHER. 

lower forms of nature, life is maintained by the 
process of natural selection, or a constant dividing 
off of the things unsuited to well-being. Even in 
plant life we see the forests built up, and the blos- 
som perfect into fruit, by this daily w T ork, aided by 
the sunshine, of selecting such elements as are 
essential to healthful development. Man alone, 
of all the creations of life on earth, seems to have 
lost this direct instinct or intuition of choosing only 
those things which tend to his best welfare, and 
therefore needs, more than the flower needs the 
sunshine, the direct revelation of God or the 
Word, to cleave to which we are told is life. The 
flood of sunshine which spreads around the world 
searches everywhere, dividing off the elements of 
life from the corruption and decay, which vanish 
at its presence ; so it at once quickens the pulse 
of life with new vital energy, and cuts off or 
cleanses away the manifold sources of evil. So 
comes the light of the Sun of Righteousness from 
heaven to the soul as a shield of safety, dividing 
between the children of light and the darkness in 
which evil and sin flourish with their rank growth. 



CHRIST THE LIGHT. 129 

As the sunshine sweeps down from heaven with 
royal power to cut off the darkness, so came the 
" Light of the World " to earth, and such is the 
light of Christ's salvation in the heart of man, 
(coming to seek the lost; that is, those wandering 
in darkness, who have not seen the way of life: and 
to save or heal ; that is, cleanse the sin-sick, or give 
strength to the weary. Cleansed with this foun- 
tain of life and light, divided off from evil and 
corruption with this mighty "shield of salvation," # 
(hidden from the plagues of life,f so that they can- 
not come nigh, and as w r e behold the Christ com- 
ung to earth, we see the " Man who shall be as an 
>hiding-place, a covert from the tempest," " and as 
rivers of water in a dry place," who should " fulfill 
the words of the prophets," we may well say, 
iHow " happy art thou, O Israel," " who is like 
tupto thee, O people saved by the Lord, the shield 
: of thy help." i For the Lord God is a sun and 
ihield, and no good thing will He withhold from 
im who leads a godly life. The typical law, with 

* 2 Sam. xxii. 36. t Ps. xci. 4-11. 

I Deut. xxxiii. 10; Ps. cxix. 114; lxxxiv. 11. 
9 



130 THE WORD AND THE TEACHER, 

its constant commands of separation and purifica- 
tion, taught the people, though dull of heart and 
self-willed, of the strength and beauty of holiness; 
but the law is our schoolmaster to bring us to 
the Christ who prays, " Sanctify them, O Father, 
through Thy w 7 ord ; Thy word is truth." * So we 
learn that the commands of God's word are not 
grievous, nor arbitrary, but simply the call of the 
Good Shepherd to the flock, that they may gently 
be led home to the fold. He seeks out the lost 
and helpless as ardently and thoroughly as the 
sunshine. The Levitical priesthood ministered to 
the people of the things of God ; their daily w r ork 
was to lead them to divide between the clean and 
unclean, the pure and impure, and thus to heal 
them, as well as by direct forms of healing, to save 
them from the plague or pestilence which walked 
through their camp, as chief emissary of the De- 
stroyer, when this law had been disobeyed. Let 
us learn from the record God has given us of the 
wilderness multitude who professed allegiance to 
the Word. Just on the entrance to the promised 

* John xvii. 17. 



CHRIST THE LIGHT. 131 

land, with its wealth of blessing,* we hear them 
question the authority of high priest and leader 
appointed by the Word, and attested by miracles of 
power: "The whole congregation is holy; why then 
lift ye up yourselves above the congregation of 
the Lord ? Ye take too much upon you." Moses 
pleads with them, but they are too much absorbed 
in trying to belittle his power to heed the words 
of God, and the plague goes forth, slaying its 
thousands. Then Moses said to the high priest, 
" Go quickly, and make atonement for them ; " and 
Aaron put on incense, and made atonement for 
the people. And " he stood between the living and 
the dead> and the plague was stayed." The same 
spirit met the Christ, as He walked the streets of 
Jerusalem, from those who should have been min- 
isters of the Word of God and its healing, but who 
had taken away the key of knowledge, and en- 
tered not in themselves. The same spirit would 
pursue Him now, even since His wondrous ascen- 
sion,! where, in the "depths of God's divine," 
our High Priest is able to save to the uttermost 

* Numb. xvi. t Heb. ix. 11, 24, 28 ; ibid. vii. 25, 26. 



132 THE WORD AND THE TEACHER. 

them that come to God by Him, seeing He ever 
liveth to make intercession, and offers before the 
throne the prayers of the believer, which rise as 
the incense # of heaven, and which, coming in 
the power of His name, cannot pass unan- 
swered, f 

The Spirit of God teaches us through His Word, X 
which is given to enable us to discern the things 
of life, and shows us our "great High Priest" 
decked in the precious garment, ■ — the blood-dyed 
mantle of atonement, — holding which, we can be 
no more cast out§ from the glad light of the Pres- 
ence: as the hem of Christ's garment on earth 
brought healing, so now we may grasp this, and 
feel the peace and power of God, and His salvation, 
around us as a shield, dividing between our soul 
and all that can harm, and separating us unto the 
kingdom of light. So blends the life-power of the 
King, with the ministry of separation, cleansing or 
healing of the priest, in Christ, the Sun of Right- 
eousness ; whom the Word of God teaches us is 

* Rev. vi. 8. t John xvi. 23, 24. 

X Heb. v. 12-14. § John vi. 37. 



CHRIST THE LIGHT. 133 

our Prophet, Priest, and King, whose light comes 
for the freedom and healing of our race. 

To give Light on Earth. (Gen. i. 15, 17.) 

" In Thy light shall we see light." (Ps. xxxvi. 9.) 

" The entrance of Thy words giveth light." (Ps. cxix. 130.) 

There is much about the life-power and healing 
of the sunshine which is involved in mystery as 
to the why and wherefore of its action, and much 
that recalls to us that its power is not of this 
earth, or, in other words, that suggests its heav- 
enly origin ; but now we are led to consider it in 
the office noted by the inspired writer; that is, to 
give light on earth, or enlighten. As it dwells on 
earth, taking efficient part in daily work, its office 
seems so inferior or secondary to those already 
noticed, that we might overlook its significance if 
not specially pointed out by inspiration ; yet with- 
out its presence, life, even if possible, would be 
worthless — a mere tissue of confusion, unrest, and 
ignorance. 

The phrase to give light recalls to us that light 
is a gift from God, poured into our daily life in 



134 THE WORD AND THE TEACHER. 

unmeasured fullness, to enlighten or make plain 
our way on earth, and so enable us to communi- 
cate or commune freely and intelligently ; without 
it we must be strangers and aliens to one another. 
Revelation of the real nature of our surroundings 
and our pursuits depends on the presence and com- 
ing of this light on earth ; in it, therefore, centre 
and abide enlightenment, communion, as well as 
revelation and the freedom and safety springing 
from it. 

This light was diffused through the firmament, 
or body of air surrounding the earth, and as "the 
day-spring takes hold on the ends of the earth," * 
we know that its power will extend not only from 
east to west, — that is, as far as our human sight 
can fathom, — it is not limited by the extent of 
one nation even, but as far as the expanse of firma- 
ment, even to the ends of the world, shining on 
all with measureless fullness of light for the service 
of man, enlightening every one " who cometh into 
the world." 

The glad light of this heaven-sent guest jour- 

* Job xxxviii. 12, 13. 



CEBIST TEE LIQET. 135 

neys all around the earth, which turns to meet it 
as "clay to the seal,"* each nation successively 
receiving the signet of the blessed Presence and 
the Revelation, which quickens it into full, free 
life ; and each morning, as the day-dawn returns 
around the world, heart praise rises to the Giver 
of all good gifts for the message, straight from 
heaven, of the Lord's mercies, for His compassions 
fail not; they are new every morning, f Great is 
His faithfulness; therefore will I hope in Him. 

tThe Lord is good to them that wait for Him. 
So, in fullness of time, to the world fettered by 
Caesar, to the listening ear of captive Juclea came 
the voice of one crying in the wilderness, "Prepare 
the way of the Lord" — even John the Baptist, 
sent before the face of the Highest. 

He was a bright and shining light, in which the 

* The meaning of the Hebrew term for earth is of uncertain 
origin; it is traced by Parkhurst and others to the root, to run or 
revolve. This striking expression in Job (xxxviii. 14) is taken from 
the form of the ancient seals, which were a sort of cylinder, turning 
on a central pivot or axis, beautifully cut, — often from stones of 
considerable value, — as found in the ruins of Nineveh, &c> by 
Layard and Rawlinson. 

f Lam. iii. 23. 



136 THE WORD AND THE TEACHER. 

people rejoiced for a season ; and with him closes 
the long roll of prophets* who point us to the 
coming, crucifixion, and ascension of our Lord. 
Their "sure word" is a gift to us from God, who 
has "prepared these lights of the light of heaven," 
that seeing we might see, and hearing might un- 
derstand with whom we have to do. So strictly 
is it that he comes before the face of Him of whom 
he speaks, that our Saviour appears in the very 
midst of his ministry, coming forth from God, who 
is light, f to become the Light of the world ; yet 
" He dwelt among men," $ and was known as 
Jesus, the prophet of Nazareth. § As our prophet 
we would now regard Him. In the special office 
of predicting the future, apart from the various 
prophecies of his earthly ministry, we find St. 
John the Evangelist, being in the spirit, listening 
to the " voice of the Son of Man, whose face was 
as the sun shining in its strength," as He unfolds 
the future of the church and world, even to the 
end of time ; but it is as He dwelt on earth we 

* John i. -Jo. | John i. 5. % John i. 14. 

§ Matt, xi. 11; Mark vi. 15; Luke iv. 24; John vii. 40, 5*2. 



CHRIST THE LIGHT. 137 

would now specially consider the lesson of His 
life. 

We read in the inspired words of the leader 
Moses, "A prophet like unto me 1 shall the Lord 
raise up from the midst of thee; Him shall ye 
hear." That we may feel the force of this, let us 
look at the peculiar position of Moses, and the 
work God sent him to perform. His first duty 
was to make known the word and will of God. 
Aaron, at his wish, is appointed to share this duty, 
and become "prophet or spokesman" to Pharaoh, 
and finally high priest to the people. A prophet 
like unto Moses, therefore, is one whose words 
would be the words of God ; and since our Saviour 
so urgently refers us to Moses, the Psalms, and 
Prophets,! while His whole life was in constant 
and avowed allegiance to them, the lesson to us 
must be, that the will of God is, that they should 
be held most sacred. 

Moses was the one sent from God to establish, 
through the power of the Word, a mighty redemp- 



* Acts vii. 37; Deut. xviii. 15, 18. 
t Luke xxiv. 44; John v. 39-47. 



138 THE WORD AND THE TEACHER. 

tion, resulting in the freedom of millions, and 
uniting them in one communion of law and wor- 
ship. He pauses in the desert while the assem- 
bled multitude prepare a tabernacle, chief feature 
of which was the shrine for the Word, or the holy 
of holies, on which only rested the visible sign of 
the Presence. 

He gives them a form of worship, in which the 
first thing to be kept in remembrance was this 
redemption through the blood of the Passover 
sacrifice ; also a new code of law, one marked fea- 
ture of which being the years of jubilee, ushered 
in with trumpets, as the name denotes, and cele- 
brating the erfect rest and freedom of the people 
of God. 

Jesus, our prophet and leader like unto Moses,* 
speaks to each soul, saying, "Follow Me;" and 
though we may pause with Him awhile in earth's 
desert-plnces until we have learned of Him to 
keep the Word sacred, and when this Word is 
enshrined in our hearts as most holy, the shield 
of the Presence will be manifest around us, and 

* Acts iii. 22. 



CHRIST THE LIGHT. 139 

its wealth of promise ours, even the inexhaustible 
riches of Christ; chief end of whose law is rest to 
His people, and an eternal redemption. Of the 
form of worship which He founded, He enjoins 
but one rite, which keeps in remembrance His 
own death, and the typical Passover sacrifice of 
the " lamb without blemish." 

Jesus says to us, "If ye continue in My word," 
"ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make 
you free." Let us then stand fast in this liberty 
with which Christ would make us free** 

Freedom and rest, release from care, through 
the presence of God leading us, form the end and 
aim of this revelation or word of God which Christ 
brings to us, which, with the earlier revelation 
(to the power of which His whole life on earth is 
witness), form the most sacred heritage the past 
brings us. Coming from God, who is light eternal, 
the entrance of these words f in our daily life 
must have untold power to enlighten % and make 
manifest the truth to those who receive it in their 
hearts and minds — a way of mighty redemption 

* John viii. 31, 30. f Ps. cxix. 104. { Ps. xix. 8. 



140 THE WORD AND THE TEACHES. 

from ignorance, limitation, and confusion, as well 
as peaceful and free communion; in a word, as the 
sun beams on the visible world, so must they have 
power over the invisible world of the soul's life. 

To realize the practical working-power of this 
revelation in the daily life of the world, we need 
only glanoe at the progress and development of 
Trot est ant. countries, where the word of Christ, 
the Light oi' the World, is freely received and 
honored among the masses; while, to prize the 
liberty with whirl 1 lie would set us free, we have 

only to compare the oondition of these masses now 
and in the days of Greek philosophy and Roman 
tyranny, remembering that we are the descendants 
of these* Gentile masses for whom Christ lived 

on earth to bring them the light of the 4 word; 
through that, and that only, was the yoke oi' 
SazOD serfdom snapped from our immediate an- 
cestors. Looking at all this, we may learn that 
to walk in the light oi' Christ f is to walk in the 
light oi' the living, t 

* Luke ii. B& I Pi. wvii. 1. 

I Job sxxiil, 28-30 j 1*h. hi. 10-13 j .Tot) xxiv. 12, 18 j Eph, i. 17, 18. 



CUR I XT THE LI (HIT. Ml 

Light in the Firmament* 

The firmament, which was gradually prepared 
in the course; of ages, as the way of life on earth, 
is now crowned wiUi the light of heaven; through 
it wo see the glory of the light, while it, diffuses 
and subdues it for our limited, human powers, 
which could not well bear the full, untempered 
glory of the sunshine; while the brightness of 
heaven is but the halo about the throne of the 
King and Life-giver. This wide earth, which is 

i built up without hands, through the power of the 
"Word, its builder and maker being God, seems to 
our human standard an almost measureless temple 
of life; but it is merely that porch, called Beau- 
tiful, by which we enter the great temple of eter- 

I nal life now standing ready for us in the heavens, 
the home of our ascended King. Between us and 
■bat hangs the veil of the firmament, even us tlm 
veil of the Jewish temple divided from the holy 
If holies, into which we pass but onoe, as this veil 
of heaven is held aside for us by the Angel of 
Death, who comes now only at Christ's bidding. 



142 THE WORD AND TEE TEACHER. 

So, then, the blue sky, or this wide expanse of 
firmament, forms the veil of the Godhead, reveal- 
ing while it conceals or subdues the eternal glory: 
it folds around us with the touch of life, and its 
brightness is simply the halo of the Presence, of 
Emmanuel, God with us, mighty to save. 

He made the Stars also. (Gen. i. 16.) 

We read of the dawn of creation, when the 
morning stars sang together, and all the sons of 
God shouted for joy, recalling to us the myste- 
rious bond of union which from the beginning has 
linked together in one life the creations of earth 
and heaven. Let us try to gain some idea of this 
vast brotherhood, and the subtile sympathy with 
which the least variation acts and reacts through 
its extent. "As the shadows on the dial only 
prove the presence of the sun," so the darkness, as 
night comes, only shows us worlds of light other- 
wise unknown ; and as we begin to realize, though 
w T ith difficulty, that the glory of our sunshine, 
w r hich sometimes seems to overwhelm our earth 
with its wealth of warmth and splendor of light, 



CHRIST THE LIGHT. 143 

is one among many brethren, which are heralds 
of light through the dark spaces of the universe — 
the hosts of heaven, extending as islands of light 
across its unfathomed depths — that myriad host 
of which the Lord of Hosts, and He alone, telleth 
the number, for "He calleth them all by their 
names." He leadeth them like a flock; and so 
we learn that they form a part of the flock of the 
Great Shepherd, our King of Kings. As their 
light beams from worlds so far off, and yet brought 
so near by this light, we learn that this Lord of 
Hosts seeks us out. 

This Good Shepherd calls us, for "thus saith 
the high and lofty One, who inhabiteth eternity, 
whose name is Holy, I dwell with him that is 
of a contrite, humble spirit, to revive the spirit 
of the humble, the heart of the contrite. I form 
the light and create darkness, and I will give 
the treasures of darkness and hidden riches, 
that they may know from the rising of the 
sun, and from the west, that I the Lord, which 
call thee, am the God of Israel:" "and let the 
earth bring forth salvation, for I the Lord have 



144 THE WORD AND THE TEACHER. 

created it; I create the fruit of the lips; peace 
to him that is near, and to him that is far off, and 
I will heal him:" and so the Word constantly 
shows as this blending of the things of heaven 
and earth, the things of God and man. 

Our Saviour, coming from these far off worlds 
to bring the light of heaven, takes up these words 
of God, saying, w If a man love Me, he will keep 
My word, and my Father will love him, and we 
will come unto him, and make our abode with 
him" "Peace I leave with you, My peace I give 
unto you ; not as the world givetli, give I unto 
you. Rejoice, because I go to the Father." 

And from the Saviour, ascended to the throne 
and power of God, the promised Spirit comes 
with the gift of peace that passeth all under- 
standing, filling the heart and mind of the dis- 
ciples with its sweetness and rest. These heart- 
words of the Saviour came " as a morning without 
cloud, as the clear shining after rain," to the dis- 
ciples in their night of sorrow. 



CHRIST THE LIGHT. 145 

The Star of the East 

We dwell now on these words of our Saviour, 
as their fulfillment marks the realization of the 
promise given in the Star of the East, or Morning 
Star, of the speedy coming of the Light that would 
conquer the darkness of the world — even that 
of the Sun of Righteousness, ascended high in 
heaven. As prophet or herald of this perfect light 
came that star, known to the Gentiles as the Star 
in the East, and to the Jew as the Star of Bethle- 
hem. Who, that ever has watched through the 
long hours of the night, has not seen with delight 
the advent of the morning star; not only for its 
wondrous beauty, but for the promise it brings 
of the glory of the dawn, and the light near at 
hand, its daily coming is a perpetual memorial 
of the glad light of Christ as He dwelt on earth, 
and a wonderful promise and prophecy of that 
advent — not to the Jew only, but the Gentile, 
to whom our Saviour was specially known under 
this sign or emblem. 

Before the Israel of God entered the land of 
10 



146 THE WORD AND THE TEACHER. 

promise, the Gentile prophet had spoken these 
"words of God" to the Gentile king:* "I shall see 
Him, but not now; I shall behold Him, but not 
nigh. There shall come a Star out of Jacob ; . . . 
out of Jacob shall come He that shall have do- 
minion;" while the prophet Isaiah, speaking of this 
dominion of the Prince of Peace, says, " Of the 
increase of His government there shall be no end." 
God, who tempers the wind to the shorn lamb, 
gives to all nations their signs and tokens, that 
everywhere the earnest seeker may find Him, and 
come home to His truth. The Gentile nations 
adored the lights of heaven ; and of these their 
wise men had gained a profound knowledge. 
This Eastern lore involved extensive intellectual 
culture, on which their science of astrology f 
was based, which, with its strange " horoscopes 
of fate," has influenced many a modern mind 
of might in the courts of Europe ; so in this 
"Star of the East," which the wise men saw 
Mnd followed to where the young child lay, we 
find how gently our heavenly Father seeks to 

Numb. xxiv. 10, 17. f x s. xlvii. 13; Dan. i. 20. 



CHRIST THE LIGHT. 147 

lead the earnest-hearted home, however far their 
culture or birth may have placed them from the 
light of living truth. 

The Bay- Star. 

" I am the bright and morning star." 

The apostle urges us to give heed to the "sure 
word of prophecy," more powerful even than mira- 
cles of manifestation to lead us, until the "day- 
star dawns in our hearts ; " or to let their words 
of light lead us, as the wise men of the East, to 
see and follow this Star of promise. 

The First-born of Many Brethren. (Rom. viii. 29.) 

So this starlight is one of the many crowns of 
our Leader and King of Kings * — precious to us 
not only as prophecy of His resurrection power 
near at hand ; but we find that, to follow where it 
leads, takes us far beyond earthly limits to share 
in the wide universe of life beyond the grave ; or 
where death and the grave lie far behind us on 
our way of light. With our faces steadfastly 
set toward where the morning-star would lead, 

! f * Rev. xix. 12. 



148 THE WORD AND THE TEACHER. 

we behold, as in a glass, or reflected to us, the 
glory of the Lord, and are changed into the same 
image by "the Spirit of the Lord." It guides 
us to the heaven where He is, or rather it brings 
that heaven near us, that we may learn to see 
Him as He is, and be like Him. Having endured 
temptation, having tested our allegiance to the 
Word, we shall receive from our Elder Brother, 
the Lord of Righteousness, the crown of right- 
eousness prepared for those who love Him. 

The first-born son receives from the father the 
right to rule, and to act as priest or minister of 
the things of God to the rest of the family or 
kindred. So the Only Begotten of the Father 
holds rule over us as Prince of the kings of the 
earth.* While following the course of the day- 
star, we find it is also chief or leader of the hosts 
of heaven, in which we behold one star differing 
from another in glory. We have read of the dark 
stars, which are without the crown of light, and 
have seen how, through the Word, even our petty 
world was fitted to receive light, and perhaps be 

* Rev. i. 5. 



CEEIST TEE LIGET. 149 

in itself a light-bearer. We receive from this some 
lesson of how our souls' darkness and chaos may, 
through allegiance to this Word of power, be fitted 
for a new birth or life, and crowned with it, as 
the stars with the light of heaven, and so join 
the great host of witnesses around the throne, 
the " first fruits from the dead." They wait with 
their Leader for those who follow them in the 
patience of faith : partaking of His baptism of 
suffering on earth, we become partakers of the 
baptism of Light and Life of heaven, which fits 
us to become kings and priests unto God, for 
such is His will concerning us. To minister of 
the things of God requires that we be in heart- 
allegiance to a known God, and such we can 
only find by seeking Him in the sacred Word of 
His revelation. 

Kingdom of Light, or Heaven. (Luke xxii. 29 ; 
1 Peter ii. 9.) 

The power and wonder of this endless life, and 
the rule in which we are called to share, grow 
upon us as we learn to trace the glory of our sun- 



150 THE WORD AND THE TEACHER. 

shine to its home, the far-off star, and find that, 
besides our planet world, many others are swayed 
by its least movement. We learn, still further, to 
follow our sun's course as it seems to pass from 
the East, its birthplace, to the remotest ends of 
the earth, making manifest the one way of light 
by which we trace that highway of the heavens, 
on which the starry hosts, crowned with the light 
prepared of God, move in ceaseless and rejoicing 
obedience around and toward the great unknown 
centre and throne of power, that gives animus 
to all. 

Each star, as it moves, sways its world of planets 
— king and priest of God's light to them — a type 
of what God would have us become by being 
rooted and grounded in that Word of Life, which 
is able to make us wise unto salvation ; and feel- 
ing our own insufficiency, seek that sufficiency 
of God w r hich is promised to those who w T ould 
be taught by the Spirit. Of such our Saviour 
speaks, saying, " They shall shine forth as the sun 
in the kingdom of the Father." But one star 
differs from another in glory; so, according to our 



CHRIST THE LIGHT. 151 

faith, or the hold that we take on these words or 
promises of God, it will be unto us ; for it is only- 
through fast hold on these that we can bring 
eternal help to others, or minister to them of the 
things of God, and this it is to be king and priest 
to Him. "And they that be wise shall shine as 
the brightness of the firmament, and they that 
turn many to righteousness as the stars forever 
and ever." * 

This universe of planet around its sun, and suns 
revolving about one another, in beautiful kindred 
of common life, is shown us as it peoples space, 
making its " depths a way of light for the re- 
deemed to pass over." All of these are in stead- 
fast allegiance to the central power, which we 
cannot but picture to ourselves as the throne of 
God. In the midst of that throne, the Apocalypse 
reveals to us the Crucified Saviour, the Lamb of 
God, leading the hosts of heavenly life ; f holding 
sway over worlds unrealized by the mind of man, 
and unknown to the telescope of science. Be- 
holding the visible universe, we may feel some- 

* Dan. xii. 3. t Key. v. 6, 10, 12; vii. 17. 



152 THE WORD AND THE TEACHER. 

thing of the might expressed in the words, " All 
power in heaven and on earth is given Me," and 
of the Presence that is with us even to the ends 
of the world, as the sunshine. 

I will give Him the Morning Star. (Rev. ii. 28.) 

We cannot here enter into the various callings 
held out to the redeemed in the kingdom of light 
— the gifts of God which crown them for eternity; 
but unto those who watch for the day-star and 
the light that follows, comes the word, " Hold fast 
till I come," "and I will give the bright and morn- 
ing star." Steadfast allegiance, then, is the root of 
this victory which overcometh the world, — even 
our faith, — and the reward is, to be not only 
ministers of the Word of God on earth, though 
with stammering lip and alien tongue, but her- 
alds of light to worlds unknown, as the day-star 
to our earth — angels through the universe of 
the love and glory of God. Again we catch 
a glimpse of the morning stars and the sons of 
God working together, and may echo the words of 
the Psalmist, " Praise Him, all ye stars of light." 



CHRIST THE LIGHT. 153 

Following these lights of the Light of heaven, we 
begin to form some idea of the "depth of the 

- riches of the love of God " manifested toward us 
when He, who thought it not robbery to be equal 
with God, took upon Him the form of a servant, 
and was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we 
saw His glory as the glory of the Father,* full of 
grace and truth; but not on earth can we fully 

' realize it; only when risen with Christ can each 

( soul say, — 

" When I stand before the throne, 
Decked in beauty not my own, 
Then, Lord, shall I fully know — 
Not till then — how much I owe." 

For Signs, for Seasons, Days and Years. 
(Gen. i. 14.) 

"I thought it good to show the signs and wonders the high 
God hath wrought. How great are His signs; how mighty are 
His wonders. His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom." (Dan. 
| iv. 2, 3.) 

Plato has said light is God's shadow; but long 
before his lifetime, we find the same thing had 
been taught in the lights and shadows of God's 

* Is. xlii. 7, 8; xlviii. 11. 



154 THE WORD AND THE TEACHER. 

revelation; indeed, on the first page of the In- 
spired Word we are told that the beauty and 
glory of the creations of God, and the light which 
reveals them, are but signs from God, the signifi- 
cance or key to which, is given in the Word. 

We read in the prophets, "Verily, Thou art a 
God who hidest Thyself, O, God of Israel, the 
Saviour." # "Thus saith the Lord, who created 
the heavens, I said not to the seed of Jacob, Seek 
ye Me in vain. There is no God beside Me, a just 
God and Saviour. Look unto Me, and be ye saved, 
all the ends of the earth; the word is gone out 
of My mouth that unto Me every knee shall 
bow." t We learn here that so far as God hides 
Himself or veils His power in signs, it is to meet 
us as a Saviour; to draw the eyes of the whole 
world to look that they may live ; but more than 
this, we also learn the way He has chosen to lead 
His people is in order to test their allegiance, 
whether they will keep His Word or not;t and 
the measure of their love for it He tells us is the 
measure or sign of their love for Him. 

* Is. xlv. 15. f Rom. xiv. 9-11; Phil. ii. 10, 11. J Deut. viii. 2. 



CHRIST THE LIGHT. 155 

While we have looked for the meaning of some 
of these signs from God to our soul, we have 
learned to feel the steadfast nature of the Word 
of which they illustrate the j^ower. " Forever, O 
Lord, Thy word is settled in heaven; Thy faithful- 
ness is unto all generations ; Thou hast established 
the earth, and it abideth; they continue unto this 
day, according to Thy ordinance." # "And the 
word of the Lord came, saying, If ye can break My 
covenant of the day and night, that there should 
not be day and night in their season, then may 
also My covenant with David be broken, that he 
should not have a son to reign." f In the coming 
of this Son of David X in fullness of time, the wide 
world of Christendom rejoices to-day; while we 
are told that the children of His kingdom of 
light cannot be numbered, and His priests, any 
more than the hosts of heaven or the sand of the 
sea. Thus these signs, and the seasons that follow 
them, only lead us again to the Christ, who is " the 
same yesterday, to-day, and forever;" wdiile the 

* Ps. lxix, 89, 90. t Jer. xxxiii. 19-21. 

% Rev. xxii. 16; Matt. xxi. 9. 



156 TEE WORD AND TEE TEACEEB. 

sun shines in the heaven to assure us that He is 
faithful who promises, and to keep in our minds 
the steadfast, noble nature of the Word, and 
quicken our souls' allegiance to this sacred gift 
of God, which reveals His love toward us, and 
which leads us from earth and the changes of time 
to dwell with Him in eternity : therefore, " blessed 
be the name of the God of heaven, forever and 
ever, for wisdom and might are His. He changeth 
the times and seasons; He removeth kings and 
setteth up kings ; He giveth wisdom to the 
wise ; He revealeth the secret things ; 
He knoweth what is in dark- 
ness, and the light dwell- 
eth with Him." 




DAY OR AGE CEON) FIFTH. 

Gen. i. 20-23. 
THE LIFE OF THE WATERS, AND OF THE AIR ; 

OR, 



Christ our fife. 



Set your hearts unto all the words which I testify anion £■ you. 
For it is not a vain thing for you — it is your life. Deut. xxxii. 47. 



The words that I speak unto you, they are life. John vi. 63. 



s^a^ 




(157) 




CHRIST OUR LIFE. 



And God said. Let the Waters bring forth abun- 
dantly. (Gen. i. 20.) 

11 O Lord, how manifold are Thy works ! in wisdom hast Thou 
made them all. The earth is full of Thy riches. So is this great 
and wide sea, wherein are things creeping innumerable, both small 
and great. There is that leviathan, whom Thou hast made to play 
therein. These wait all upon Thee, that Thou mayest give them 
their meat in due season. That Thou givest them, they gather; 
Thou openest Thine hand, they are filled with good." (Ps. civ. 
24-28.) 

l< Seek the Lord, and ye shall live; . . . seek Him that maketh the 
seven stars, and Orion, and turneth the shadow of death into the 
morning, and maketh the day dark with night; that calleth for the 
waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth : 
the Lord is His name." (Amos v. 6-8.) 

gHE sunshine having gained full power, the 

earth receives its crown of life, as the 

"moving creature, and the fowl that may fly," 

enter the home prepared by their Creator, who is 

(159) 




160 THE WORD AND THE TEACHER. 

thus made known as " the Wonderful, the Coun- 
selor, the Mighty God," and who becomes more 
and more manifest to us, as we learn from these 
thronging tenants (whose home for a while we 
share) of the special providence of God in all 
earthly life, caring for its least need ; and we 
watch the tenderness with which the Good Shep- 
herd leads as a flock the countless tribes of life ; 
giving to all their " meat in due season." * 

From the beginning, this animated life had been 
prophesied : it was foreshadowed in the pulsing 
of the flame-world which reigned in chaos ; in the 
throb of ocean ; in the dash of the wave, and the 
rustle of the breeze that w 7 hispered through the 
wild forest of the higher life that would come. 
Even the far-off stars echo this prophecy, as, by 
their slow, stately movements, they seem to guide 
the changes of the seasons; subduing the rude 
elements to touch with gentleness this frail physi- 
cal life, which grows up and fades as a flower. 
The very sunshine tells the same story, as at even- 
tide there is a " hiding of its power," and over the 

* Ts. cxlv. 15, 16. 



CHRIST OUR LIFE. 161 

busy hum of life comes a hush while that most 
wonderful of all Nature's wonders, " sleep, death's 
twin-brother," holds sway, giving strength for 
another of earth's little days of life. The brief 
hours of light, which alternate with as brief a 
night, when contrasted with the timeless days of 
Jehovah (which have no such rhythm of ebb and 
flow, or pulsing of power), show forth the tender 
mercies of our God over creature life in this exact 
adaptation to its limitations. 

In all this we may behold the Jehovah, who 
will come to rule, " who hath measured the waters 
in the hollow of His hand, and meted the heavens 
with a span, and comprehended the dust of the 
earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains." * 
With all these visible things of earth and its life, 
to teach us of the " invisible Godhead," f and the 
power of the Word, which spoke, " and it was so," 
even as we now see it, we are indeed without 
excuse if we lift not up our eyes on high, and 
"behold who hath created these things." It is 
with this thought the inspired prophet seeks to 

Is. xl. 9, 12. t Rom. i. 20. 

11 



162 THE WORD AND THE TEACHER. 

move the people, who, through carelessness of this 
Word, were drifting into thorough desolation, say- 
ing, " Have ye not known ? have ye not heard ? 
hath it not been told you from the beginning? 
have ye not understood, from the foundations of 
the earth. 

"Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who 
hath created these, and bringeth out their host 
by number? He calleth them all by names; by 
the greatness of His might, for that He is strong 
in power. They that wait on the Lord shall re- 
new their strength." * 

The star-light taught us of the life that should 
come to reign on earth, with its myriad tribes, 
even to number which, is a token of the greatness 
of the power of Jehovah ; while in our world to- 
day we find how man, sharing this life of earth, 
has received, as chief of these tribes, the sceptre 
of dominion ; to be used not as a mere tyrant, but 
with a grateful sense of the trust thus received 
from the God who "feedeth the raven," f and be- 
fore whom not a sparrow falls unheeded. 

* Is. xl. f Job xxxviii. 41; Luke xii. 24. 



C HEIST OUR LIFE. 163 

But the stars that shone on those dim ages of 

the past, shine on us with the same prophecy of 

better things to come, showing that the end is not 

yet: even in their stillness they are eloquent, as 

the pulsing of their light thrills us with dim 

prescience of a life beyond, crowned with glory, 

where death may not touch even the tiniest 

flower. 

The Groioth of the Ages. 

Successively these a3ons have told the story of 
creative power. In each, after its kind, the won- 
derful thoughts of God have been set in type 
as it were, for the thousands who should be born 
on earth, gifted with intelligence to read this 
glorious hieroglyph of God's love. Each age 
shows us some one element, or phase of life, in 
gradual development or growth to full power, 
when for the time it becomes the central point 
of the earth's existence, or ruling monarch of that 
day. On this gradual growth the mind is fixed, 
and as we watch the wonderful facts, the untold 
variety that is drawn out in such development, we 
are prepared in a measure to realize the thoughts 



164 THE WORD AND THE TEACHER. 

of God in our soul-life, and seek humbly to receive 
the facts of God's revelation concerning it. 

Of the minor features of interest, — even the 
possible forms of life which may have existed in 
these periods, — nothing is said, that we may bet- 
ter learn the main lesson of the day. Our earth's 
surface now repeats certain phases of somewhat 
similar development, from which may be pictured 
the possibilities of these earlier aeons. 

The word aeon, as we have before noted, sug- 
gests the idea of this development of light from 
darkness, order or organization from chaos, &c, 
or the perfect growth which comes from the 
egg when brooded with care. So these days of 
chaos, cherished into perfectness by the presence 
and care of God, suggest that, in the unrest of 
our little days, the presence of the Spirit, with His 
purifying baptism of fire, must be sought and 
found, that our lives may bloom abundantly with 
the fulfilled promises of God. 

Successively, the dread powers of the flame- 
world, the mystery of ocean, the grandeur of the 
mountain-growth, are as eloquent as the thunder 



CHRIST OUE LIFE. 165 

and flame of Sinai of the power of this Word 
of God. 

Successively, in each, our powers of admiration 
and intelligence seem exercised to their utmost; 
but crowning all these, and far exceeding them, 
come forth the glory and beauty of plant-life ; 
from the palm, rising in victory above the sea- 
shore, where the proud wave bows its life out on 
the strand, to the lichen that crests with its tiny 
wavelets the rocks of those mountain summits, 
which, as time passes, crumble into dust under the 
subtle influence, everywhere asserting itself with 
such power that, at the coming of this life-wave, 
the mountains are bowed. 

Plant-life alone, to our limited faculties, would 
seem to shadow forth Infinity; but one step into 
the aeons of sunshine brings us to the " creature 
Which hath life, and the bird that might fly in the 
open firmament of heaven ; " in other words, em- 
bodied intelligence, incarnate in physical form, — 
and the rapture and enthusiasm of mere admira- 
tion is hushed in humility and awe, as the Creator, 
who before manifested His power, now shows forth 



166 THE WORD AND THE TEACHER. 

His love and tenderness in caring for this new 
world, with its mystery of "soul-life."* 

In this word soul, as given by the inspired 
writers to all forms of animated existence, our 
heavenly Father would perhaps wish to teach man 
of his responsibility toward his dumb kindred, with 
whom he is joined in one vast communion of 
will-power and intelligence; while, in the distinc- 
tion so constantly made in the Word between 
soul and spirit, f we are reminded that the division 
line between the race of man and the other tribes 
of creation, is found in that communion with God, 
gained through the Word and prayer, which is 
known as Christianity. 

Life of the Fifth Day. 

"All life from the egg" is a scientific saying, 
conveying a fact foreshadowed in these aeons. 
The forms which first prevailed on earth were 
strictly those which are brought forth from the 
egg, either by the rude fostering of the elements 
and the sunshine, or direct, brooding care : this 

* Gen. i. 20, margin. | Heb. iv. 12; 1 Thees. v. 23. 



CHRIST OUR LIFE. 167 

comprises the finny tribes, the insect swarms, 

reptiles, and birds. Varying as all these do, in 

outward form and perfectness, as greatly as the 

caterpillar from . the butterfly, yet at the begin- 

l ning they all undergo this phase of development. 

i They are briefly summed up, in the record of the 

fifth day, as the life of the waters, and the life 

- of the air; while one of its chief characteristics 

i is touched on in the phrase, "Multiply abundant- 

j ly, and fill the seas." # Of the superabundant 

J vitality which marked that time, we may form 

I some idea from the countless numbers which now 

< fill the bayous and lagoons of the tropics. 

The Life of the Waters. 

This subject, in our present state of knowledge, 
is involved in much obscurity. These teeming 
myriads of the sea, who live mainly by the slaugh- 
ter of their kindred, have been proved to be pos- 
sessed of intelligence, and obviously have great 
physical strength. Fishes have been trained to 
come at a call, and to distinguish the accustomed 

* Gen. i. 22. 



1G8 THE WORD AND THE TEACHER. 

voice from many others. To this world we have 
but little clew. The Creator alone can number 
or guide their hosts ; and among themselves, force 
and cunning seem to govern their movements. 
In all this, it seems to reflect the life on earth 
to-day, which is inscrutable as the restless, troubled 
sea. A mystery to those who have part in it, 
who are often borne about, aimlessly drifting oft- 
times with the tide of affairs ; servants, rather than 
monarchs of their outward circumstance. 

TJie Wonders of the Great Deep. 

The varied phases of physical form are nowhere 
more marvelous than in the sea. We see the 
translucent, rose-tinted cell become in due time 
the dark, hard-coated shell-fish. Again we see the 
wide-spread fields of light, pale as moonlight, vary- 
ing on its dark background of waters, as if the 
midnight Aurora of the heavens were dancing 
upon the ocean wave ; while here and there glit- 
ters, like the vivid electric flash, the light of 
another variety of the infusoria, to which mainly 
may be traced these wonders. 



CHRIST OUR LIFE. 169 

In the sunshine, we may watch the fragile 

jelly-fish, sustaining its delicate life amidst the 

i powerful waves, that, roused in tempest, rend the 

stout ships, which arc perhaps the most carefully 

i planned structures of all man's handiwork, with 

1 their elegant outlines borrowed from the tenants 

I of water and of air; yet the massive oak timbers 

and sinews of steel and iron, so thoroughly united, 

are swept away by the destroyer as the web of 

the insect. Meanwhile, safely above these waves 

♦ of dread, the nautilus floats buoyantly along, 

cradled on the great deep, which thunders forth 

the judgment of God.* So, to the children of 

faith, whatever the danger, wherever it meets 

them, "these tempests that come shall come to 

the rescue, and hasten them home." 

The Leviathan. 

Of the larger inhabitants of the deep, no finer 
description exists than in the inspired pages, where 
the puny strength of man is spoken of: — 

* Ps. xxxvi. 0. 



170 TEE WORD AND TEE TEACEER. 

"Canst thou draw out leviathan with a hook? 
will he make supplications unto thee ? wilt thou 
play with him as a bird ? Shall not one be cast 
down even at the sight of him? None is so 
fierce that dare stir him up. His eyes are like 
the eyelids of the morning. Out of his nostrils 
goeth smoke; flame goeth out of his mouth. 
In his neck remaineth strength, and sorrow re- 
joiceth before him ; his heart is firm as stone, 
and hard as the nether millstone. When he 
raiseth up himself, the mighty are afraid ; the 
sword of him that layeth at him cannot hold. He 
esteemeth iron as straw; the arrow cannot make 
him flee; darts are counted as stubble; he laugheth 
at the shaking of a spear. He maketh the deep to 
boil like a pot; he maketh a path to shine after 
him; one would think the deep to be hoary. 
Upon earth there is not his like, who is made 
without fear. He beholdeth all high things; he 
is king over all the children of pride." * 

Even to the careless observer, the varied tribes 
of animal life illustrate many of the traits of hu- 
man life as we see it daily ; and that this is not a 

* Job xli. (See margin.) 



CHRIST OUR LIFE. 171 

mere chance, but a part of God's thought in such 
life, we learn from the analogies written out for 
us in the volume of God's Book. 

From out the purblind, restless sea of the world's 
life, swayed by outward tide of circumstance, have 
arisen, from time to time, monarchs of might, who 
have swept over the world as a wave of destruc- 
tion ; while the nations bowed in terror before the 
wonderful might of the "king of pride." So in 
' times past have the kings of the earth been pre- 
1 eminently the destroyers of their own race, and 
, their power exercised in direct contrast and oj>- 
position to the Word and power of God, whose 
strength is wielded to "bless, and heal, and to 
make alive." So, in the great leviathan, the dragon 
of the deep, is portrayed these kings of the earth, 
far back as in the time of Pharaoh, whose power 
i was subdued by God, who, as King of old,* was 
] manifest, working salvation in the midst of the 
earth; for Thou didst divide the sea by strength; 
Thou brakest the heads of the dragon in the 
waters, and gavest leviathan to be meat to the 

* Ps. lxxiv. 12, 14. 



172 TEE WORD AND TEE TEACEER. 

people inhabiting the wilderness ; for thus saith 
Jehovah: "Behold, I am against thee, Pharaoh, 
king of Egypt, the great dragon that lieth in the 
midst of his river." * And the haughty Pharaoh, 
who had hardened his heart to the Word of God, 
stands as a type of the powers of pride that have 
from time to time held such sway over the world, 
as would serve to make their sudden destruction 
the more memorable, when they fall before the 
touch of Jehovah, whose Word had said, " Who 
hath prevented that I should repay him?" f 

Even in the slighter touches, we learn the in- 
sight and exactness of the Word : as it speaks of 
smiting the head of these powers of the sea, we 
arc reminded of the literal fact, that, in the great 
serpent tribes, a comparatively slight blow, directly 
on the head, will put an end to life. So this phrase 
would not only tell us of the swift and utter de- 
struction of the kings of pride, but also that He 
who directs tlie blow to fall was the One in whose 
sight are open the sources of all forms of life; X 

* Ezck. xxix. 3. f Job xli. 11; Rom. xi. 33, 36. 

t Heb. lv. 13. 



CHRIST OUR LIFE. 173 

and beyond this, it shows us that as the Word 
passes through the nations in swift judgment, di- 
viding them unto life or death, the stroke that 
comes, though inevitable to the criminal, falls in 
the most direct, and therefore merciful manner; 
and yet in that way which may most impress the 
beholder, and so call him home to the Word and 
Life with God. 

From time to time, in the dim history of the 
past ; we find, rising from the sea of life which 
I filled the world, these kings of might, who seek to 
jj immortalize themselves by the cities they have 
i builded, in which the children of pride could emu- 
1 late one another in luxury and selfism — those 
cities which from the first preyed ruthlessly on the 
life of the myriad serfs w r ho labored on them, and 
which absorbed in their great tide of life, without 
a ripple of consciousness, the thousands of the 
weaker sort. 

Cain is the first city-builder on record. His 
descendants were famed for intelligence and skill, 
and were of marked intellectual power. The 
cities, even of our own time, seem to bear the 



174 THE WORD AND THE TEACHER. 

mark of Cain, as their swarming myriads, unknown 
and unnumbered as tlio fishes of the sen, die out 
daily in silence ; the weaker are thrust to the 
wall, simply to swell the triumph of some prince 
among these children of pride, whose life echoes, 
in cold audacity to Cod and man, the question of 
their ancestor: "Am I my brother's keeper?" 

Several of the sea-side cities have been, from 
various causes, marked examples of the history of 
the power of pride, and the fate of sudden desola- 
tion, written out beforehand in the Word of God, 
by which all life is judged. 5 * In some of the 
most exquisite sentences ever penned in modern 
tongue, liuskin speaks of those thrones of mark 
which, " since the dominion of man was asserted 
over ocean, havo been set upon its sands. Of the 
throhe of Tyre, only the memory remains; of 
Venice, the ruin : and those who inherit their 
greatness, if they forget their example, may be led 
through prouder eminence to less pitied destruc- 
tion. 

"The exaltation, the sin, the punishment of 

* Gen. iv. 17-22; John xii. 48. 



CEBIST OUR LIFE. 175 

Tyre, have been recorded for us in perhaps the 
most touching words ever uttered by the prophets 
of Israel against the cities of the stranger ;* but 
we read them as a lovely song, and close our ears 
to the sternness of their warning; for the very 
depth of the fall of Tyre has blinded us to its 
reality, and we forget, as we watch the bleaching 
of the rocks between the sunshine and the sea, 
that they were once as an 'Eden, the garden of 
God.' 

" Her successor, like her in perfection of beauty, 
though less in endurance of dominion, is still left 
for our beholding in the final period of her decline 
— a ghost upon the sands of the sea. ... So weak, 
so quiet, so bereft of all but her loveliness, that we 
might well doubt, as we watch her faint reflection 
in the mirage of the lagoon, which was the city, 
and which the shadow. 

"I would fain endeavor to trace the lines of this 
image, before it is forever lost, to record, as far as 
I may, the warning which seems to me to be 
uttered by every one of the fast gaining waves 

* Ezek. xxvi., xxvii., xxviii. 



176 THE WORD AND THE TEACHER. 

that beat like passing bells against the stones of 
Venice." 

As- the earlier phases of creation are repeated 
in certain of the physical forms of earth to-day, 
speaking to us of the unchangeable Creator, who 
is "the same yesterday, to-day, and forever;" so 
also the fate of the kings of pride is the same now 
as of old, and this fate is decreed by the same 
Judge, who is now everywhere present, working 
salvation in our midst by dividing the good from 
the evil, the living from the dead. As the fate of 
the king of pride, so is that of " his children," or 
of those in allegiance with him. They are the 
u servants of earth," * as Cain was of old. Their 
dying life is dedicated to some form of self-seeking, 
— it may be even the things of beauty or mere 
enjoyment, or it may be the greed of gain, — 
whether of intellectual wealth and culture or mere 
palpable possessions. 

With the successors of those who are strong in 
this sea of life, comes the gairish bloom of pride, 
gaudy and lurid, yet not without its charm for the 

* Literal translation. (Gen. iv. 2.) 



CHRIST OUR LIFE. 177 

many. Seen in the eternal light, it is like the rude 
barbaric splendor of the painted savage, who, per- 
fect in beauty, and strong as he is in his own eyes, 
vanishes into nothingness before the development 
of civilization. 

The Word, which has judged pride and its be- 
longings, shows us its inherent ugliness in naming 
as the chief of those things which are an abomi- 
nation to Jehovah, our King, a proud look,* and 
its reward, desolation. 

But the children of life and light are those who 
seek first the kingdom of God. The Word recog- 
nizes no divided service. God has sent forth to 
us the King, who can save now and forever. 
Shall we echo with the rabble, those "servants of 
earth," "We will not have this man to reign over 
us; we have no king but Caesar," — that is, the 
, world's king of the world's ways of pride ; — or 
shall we in all humility receive the Crucified, say- 
ing to both heart and mind, " Behold your King " ? 

Entering into this allegiance, we may be led by 
the Spirit so to follow the standard of the cross 

* Prov. vi. 17. 

12 



178 THE WORD AND THE TEACHER. 

(which is that of Christendom and its enlighten- 
ment), that we may enter the presence of the 
ascended Saviour, and learn to behold Him en- 
throned with "all power over earth and heaven;" 
so that not only we may trust as a child our future 
to Him, but receive now that mighty salvation, 
working, with its supernatural power of blessing, 
in our daily lives ; fulfilling in them the promises 

of God. 

The Life of the Air. 

Close upon the age of sunshine, and in beauti- 
ful harmony with the laws of Nature, came the 
birds, as highest type of the prevailing life of that 
time. Even now, in mere physical point of view, 
their beauty and high organization may be ex- 
pressed in one word — perfection. Their life seems 
to blend with the sunshine. Their song is first 
herald of the dawn; before the busy hum of life 
stirs in the city streets, this has sounded, from East 
to West, across wide continents of life. Around 
each little hamlet, the hymn of praise, from these 
feathered choristers, ascends clear and bright, un- 
til it seems to reach the gates of heaven. Again, 



CHRIST OUR LIFE. 179 

tender and full, the inarticulate melody springs 
forth in a fountain of loving joy, as thus cheering 
their kindred, they begin the arduous, yet glad 
task of ministering to their little households. 

So this fifth age is the aeon of creation's spring- 
time. " Lo ! the winter is past ; the flowers appear 
on the earth; the time of the singing birds is 
come ; the voice of the turtle is heard in our land ! 
O my Dove, which is in the clefts of the rocks, let 
me hear thy voice (for it is sweet) until the day 
break and the shadows flee." 

The spring-time has come to the world ! The 
time of the birds ! their free, glad life shows them 
to be quickened with the light and warmth of 
heaven. They are heralds of the sunshine when 
the tempest and darkness are over; heralds also 
of the resurrection hour of spring, with its newness 
of life, when the isolation of winter has passed 
away. 

We may not treat carelessly the thoughts God 
sends us by these winged messengers as they rise 
far above the earth-bound life we have lately 
watched, far removed, yet one with it; and as time 



180 TEE WORD AND TEE TEACEEB. 

passes, even these tribes of the air become servants 
of man. The facts and thoughts of the visible 
creation seem woven together in a seamless tapes- 
try, forming a mantle of vital service for the King, 
— a glorious preparation for the coming of the 
Highest ! 

At this spring-time of creation, the fountain of 
animate life comes forth, and everywhere may be 
seen the wonderfully varied expressions of vitality. 
Finally the highest forms become engrafted on 
those already known. So, in later times, the soul- 
life of man crowns the physical possibilities of 
earthly existence, leading it heavenward. 

From the stand-point of to-day we look back. 
Between us and those dim aeons of the past ex- 
tend many centuries of this soul-life, imprisoned in 
frail earthly tenements, waiting to be clothed upon 
with immortality. Above the turmoil of those 
ages, rises the sure word of prophecy, cheering as 
the winged messengers of light : " Turn you to 
the strong-hold, ye prisoners of hope! Behold, 
thy King cometh ! meek and lowly. He shall 
speak peace. His dominion shall be from sea to 



CHRIST OUR LIFE. 181 

sea — even to the ends of the earth." For the 
coming of this King, the wide earth is arrayed 
with its wealth of life and bloom. From the be- 
ginning are written out by the hand of God mes- 
sages to the waiting soul of man. While to all 
this hieroglyph of God's love, the Word is the key. 
In that we are taught of the aeon of light, which 
was the age of dawn. Its covenant of day and 
night was a sign of the unchangeable, eternal cove- 
nant which God seeks to establish with each soul* 
In the later aeons of the spring, with its gladness, 
we are led a step nearer the heart of God, as the 
mystery of the life-blood of the covenant f is 
prophesied, where infinite wisdom and power 
pause in the onward, stately march of creation, 
making it a distinct era, when we first have to 
do with this higher organism, with its heart-beat 
j quickened by the 

Scarlet Life- Tide. 

"For the life is the blood." We look back 
through the centuries which the revelation of God 

* Jer. xxxiii. 21, 25. j Heb. xiii. 20. 



182 THE WORD AND THE TEACHER. 

mirrors to our view, and behold the presence of 
God with the Father of the Faithful. The sacred 
covenant is founded; visible signs are given to 
test obedience, and to quicken faith ; the offerings 
are prepared ; the turtle dove and pigeon are laid 
on the altar. The vision ends in darkness* 

Later in time the law is given to the Israel 
of God. The sin offering and burnt offering are 
commanded ; the turtle dove is the accepted sac- 
rifice of the poor.f Thus the herald of spring — 
that joyous resurrection hour of nature — becomes 
associated with the sin and suffering of humanity. 
As the life-tide flows on the altar, the stain of 
uncleanness, the pain of separation, even the in- 
dwelling plague of leprosy, are purified and done 
away. Strange way of redemption or remission 
for the weary and heavy-laden child of man! 
Strange service of obedience to which these peo- 
ple were called ! 

In the temple, as the altar fires grow dim, we 
behold the mother and babe of Bethlehem, with 
the burnt offering of the poor. The devout 

* Gen. xv. t Lev. v. 7, 11. 



CHRIST OUR LIFE. 183 

Simeon is waiting for the consolation of Israel. 
Quickened by the Spirit, he recognizes the child 
Jesus as "the Lord's Christ," and giving thanks, 
he said, "Now lettest Thou Thy servant depart 
in peace, for mine eyes have seen Thy salva- 
tion!" — The spring-time of the soul's life is at 
hand. 

Again we look in the mirror of life which God 

| Himself holds out to us. Beneath the darkened 

I heavens we behold the cross! The sacred life- 

I tide flows, in answer to the fierce outcry of the 

i mob and its leaders, who professed to keep and 

teach the Word of God. The Gentile ruler, half 

I in scorn, and half in pity for their "faultless" 

i Victim, has said, " Behold your King ! " while the 

armed retainers put on Him the scarlet robe of 

mockery, and then led forth to a felon's death the 

.1 one only sinless Son of man. 

It is at the cross that we begin to learn some- 
thing of the meaning of the words, " If I be lifted 
1 up, I will draw all men unto me ; " the prophecy 
spoken to us by the Son of God. 

The voice of pity, and the sorrow of the helpless, 



184 THE WORD AND THE TEACHER. 

seem drowned in the world's fierce tumult and 
the clamor of Babel-tongued philosophy, as, in 
seeking to trample on the power of Christ the 
Crucified, they cry, with one accord, "His blood 
be upon us and our children!" History gives 
the dread fulfillment. 

Thick darkness soon enshrouds the life of cap- 
tive Judea, — a night of gloom and desperate sor- 
row, — and "blood is poured out as dust."* 
The helpless people question their prophets : 
" Watchmen, tell us of the night." The inspired 
seer gazes through the gloom : " Who is this that 
cometh from Edom, with dyed garments, travel- 
ing in the greatness of His strength? I that 
speak in righteousness, mighty to save. 

"Wherefore art thou red in thine apparel? I 
have trodden the wine-press alone. The year of 
my redeemed is come. I looked, and there was 
none to help. I wondered there was none to 
uphold ; therefore mine arm brought salvation." 
"So He was their Saviour." 

With herald note of gladness and good news 

* Zeph. i. 17. 



CHRIST OUR LIFE. 185 

comes this triumphant prophecy of the Redeemer, 
mighty to save now in this present world. 

We look from the Crucified to the opened 

heavens, and behold the King of Kings and Lord 

of Lords, with vesture * dipped in blood. The 

scarlet robe of mockery has become the royal robe 

\ of the Conqueror. The seamless garment of hu- 

• manity, worn in our service and dyed with life. 

\ blood, makes manifest how the divine life is en 

;| grafted on the earthly through this " New Testa- 

! ment" or covenant of our King. 

Still the sure word of prophecy reads, " Behold, 
J the Lord cometh with ten thousand of His saints ;" 
3 the heavens are bowed as its hosts descend in 
homage to the King. No longer the pitiless 
mob, surging through the city streets, to pour 
contempt on the helpless Son of man; but "mul- 
titudes, multitudes in the valley of decision," and 
the waiting earth is swayed with fear and hope, 
', for " they shall look on Him whom they pierced." f 
" Is it nothing to you, all ye who pass by ? Be- 
j hold, and see if there be any sorrow like unto 



* Rev. xix. 13. f Zech. xii. 10; Rev. i. 7. 



186 THE WORD AND THE TEACHER. 

my sorrow." * — Our world's life still passes care- 
lessly by, as it did at Calvary, absorbed in its own 
aims and cares, its own unrest and sorrows, though 
"Christ our Life" has come to it. "Behold and 
see" the King of the soul's life. The spring-time 
of each soul is when Christ is clearly manifest to 
it; for then its life must bloom with the fulfilled 
promises of God. 

"Is it nothing to you, all ye who pass by?" 
Behold tliy King! yet the soul's life chafes on 
restlessly in its earthly prison-house. " Would I 
had the wings of a dove ; I would flee away, and 
be at rest. I would wander far off. I would hasten 
my escape from the storm and tempest." f " But 
the Lord shall utter His voice ; the Lord shall be 
the hope of His people." Whatever may threaten, 
the refuge is near; "turn you to the strong-hold." 
Listen to the voice of the One who speaks "in 
righteousness, mighty to save." Is the winter of 
sorrow, with isolation, around you? Never more 
alone, for to you the Voice has said, "Lo, I am 
with you alway." 

* Lam. i. 12. t Ps. lv. 6. 



CHRIST OUR LIFE. 187 

Are you in the mists of uncertainty? the night 
of unbelief? the unrest of care? "Gome unto Me, 
and I will give you rest." Is the dread captivity 
of sin within you, or around you as a whirlwind, 
uprooting all cherished realities? Whatever the 
tempest, the word of Christ is mighty to save, 
speaking peace. Even peace through the blood 
of the cross* 

The life-tide of Calvary lias become the river of 
salvation, bearing home the myriad redeemed t as 
a mighty sea of glory and life, leading from earth 
to heaven. % 

The way is made manifest by which Jehovah 
would lead His people, bringing them home to 
Himself; § bearing them up as the eagle bears its 
! helpless young on its powerful wings, keeping 
them safe from harm. Christ our Life stands re- 
| vealed as the Strong-hold of Hope, the Rock of 
Ages, to which the soul, w T inged by the promises 
of the Word, will flee as a bird to the mountain. 

Among the tribes of life there is perhaps no 

* Col. i. 20. t Kcv. v. 9, 11. % Epb. ii- 13. 

§ Ex. xix. 4; Deut. xxxii. 11. 



188 THE WORD AND THE TEACHER. 

finer sight than the upward flight of the eagle, its 
sight undimmed by the full power of the sun- 
shine. It mounts slowly, circling upward until 
lost to sight in the heavens. It is a perfect expres- 
sion of majesty and vital strength. It is written 
of the children of Light, who look at the Saviour's 
power rather than the difficulties that would hedge 
them in, that they shall not be weary; they shall 
" mount as on eagles' wings ; " * while He who re- 
deems their life will renew their youth (vigor) like 
the eagle's.f 

From afar the eagle discerns some object of its 
search, and sweeps down to earth with swift, un- 
erring aim; so we read, "As birds flying" will the 
Lord defend $ His little ones. 

From the varied analogies of His love and 
power by which the Creator of all fixes our at- 
tention on these tribes of life, we may learn how 
tenderly He watches over even the least forms of 
life, and be quickened to cast all our care on 
Him who seeks to perfect and to save to the 
uttermost. 

* Is. xl. 31. f Ps. liii- 4, 5, \ la. xxxi. 5. 



CHRIST OUR LIFE. 189 

We gather something of the power of the Word 

which called into being this life of the air as we 

watch its varied existence in our present world. 

The flight of birds is a marvelous expression of 

vital 2^o wer, not only from its swiftness,* but that 

wonderful, unnamed faculty which enables them, 

as they speed from pole to tropic, to wing their 

way, straight as an arrow from the bow, to the 

rock or tree which had been their former home. 

Thus the winter wren f passes on its solitary way 

I from Labrador to Florida; while the least petrel, 

! whose home seems to be the tempest-wave, tra- 

| verses thousands of miles of ocean to reach its 

chosen rock ! The very abundance of this life, 

as noted in the fifth aeon, is absolutely startling, 

whether we look at the rocks of mid-ocean, or the 

| inland forests, where the passenger pigeon mi- 

i grates. $ 

* " The speed of one mile, and in some cases two miles a minute 
is thought to be attained." — Audubon, vol. vi. p. 242. 

f This tiny bird weighs about four and a half drachms; while the 
least petrel has the same weight and thirteen and a half inches 
expanse of wing ! 

% From those rocky islands whole fleets of small vessels are laden 
each season with eggs of the sea-birds ; while, in illustration of the 






190 THE WORD AND THE TEACHER. 

Passing through the forest wilderness, as it is 
called, such a variety of these tribes of air appear, 
that, Columbus-like, one seems to have discovered 
a new world of life; while the high arches extend 
mile after mile, upholding this mid-air territory, in 
which each tree is a palace, or in some cases, it 
would seem, a well-peopled city. 

These facts and pictures of bird-life now illus- 
trate the fifth aeon, because the general type is the 
same; the same thoughts of sunshine and freedom 
are associated with it; while that of the sea has 
the same inferior type, combined with great power, 
craft, and ferocity. These two great forms of life 
from the common origin of the egg, yet growing 
up into such different atmospheres, differ in one 
way : As we look back, the type of the life of the 

forest life, we take a part of Audubon's account of one of these 
migrations: "For fifty-five miles the numbers were undiminished, 
and continued so for three days. Where they had alighted at night, 
I observed many trees, two feet in diameter, broken off near the 
ground. The whole forest seemed as if swept by a tornado. As they 
approached, their flight sounded at times like thunder: it was use- 
less to speak to, or even shout to persons nearest me. Even the 
reports of the gun were seldom heard. Facts show that their flight 
may be rated at a mile a minute ! " 



! 



CHRIST OUR LIFE. 191 

air has constantly developed from good to very 
good ; while the life of the waters is now compara- 
tively degenerate from the mighty " saurians " of 
old. Some of those monarchs of the flood have 
been disinterred from their rocky sepulchres, 
grander than the pyramid tombs of Pharaoh. 
Their elaborate structure, even to the eye, is pre- 
served for our instruction. The degenerate tribes 
of our time have similar predatory habits, but not 
that special elaboration which distinguished those 
monarchs of the world's early life. 

Still the type can be distinctly recognized. 
From the life of our world to-day we can read 
that of its remotest ancestors ; w 7 hile the past dis- 
tinctly as eloquently prophesies the future, and 
each form of development, each phase of life, is 
full of suggestion, yet we see the literal ness of the 
Word as each one is seen always positively " after 
its kind." These forms no more develop or be- 
come merged in one another under the touch of 
time, which obliterates so many distinctions, than 
the contortions of the brown tree-root in the forest, 
which clings around the rock, or creeps along the 



192 THE WORD AND THE TEACHER. 

soil, can become, from present circumstances or 
future development, the snake it so vividly and 
unmistakably suggests. The record of the past 
enunciates the history and laws of life as plainly 
as the tablets of Sinai. 

Beyond all the multitude of thoughts of the 
wisdom and power shown in this creation, and the 
loving care and presence which sustain it, stands 
forth the twofold life which God Himself calls us 
to consider; one form of which pictures the ordi- 
nary life of the world — its strength, its vagueness, 
and its constant drifting on toward the unknown 
boundary line, — 

" With never a thought o'er that boundary flying, 
Never a grasp as the clouds swing by ; " 

while the other pictures the possibilities of the 
children of Light, even in this world, as they seek, 
through " faith in Christ," to know the power of 
His resurrection working in them.* To know this 
is to be risen with Christ above the pressure of 
earthly cares, and to be no more servants of earth, 

* Phil. iii. 9, 10. 



CHRIST OUR LIFE. 193 

but led by the Spirit, and fed by the Word, to 
have the power of the ascended Saviour always 
so present with us that the promises of Christ are 
fulfilled in our daily life ; and this is perfected 
service. 

Whatever the circumstances around us, "our 
life " and all life is " hidden with Christ in God ; " 
and He therefore can guide its possibilities. The 
contrast of these tribes of air and ocean is not so 
much the obvious one of those who are Christians 
and those who are not, but as we watch the life 
of one type always developing from good to very 
good, while in the other it as constantly degener- 
ates and sinks below the level of its first possibili- 
ties, we cannot but feel that the appeal is to those 
who call themselves Christians, yet suffer them- 
selves to drift with the tide of events, whether the 
local current be amusement or care. So that in 
this world God only knows wh ether they are 
thoroughly of it or not, since their life assimilates 
itself so closely with the life of those who know 
not the power of faith in the Word, and the 
ascended Saviour it declares to us: while of the 
13 



194 TEE WORD AND TUE TEACHER. 

half-hearted allegiance, whose drifting darkness is 
like "the troubled sea, which cannot rest," leaving 
to the future all efficient power of the life of faith, 
as it fails and falters in the possibilities of each 
day, the heart which knoweth the bitterness of 
such turbid unrest can alone say how great is its 
darkness. 

Let us, with practical faith, receive the power 
of " Christ our Life " working in and with us 
with present might of that salvation which is 
safety and healing; fulfilling in us the unchange- 
able promise made to all who will take God at 
His word: "I will bless thee, and make thee a 
blessing." This is to become " children of Light," 
and to be in active allegiance to the kingdom 
of heaven (so near, as the Saviour tells us), 
which endures through time and eternity. With 
a single eye or sincere purpose to receive this 

eternal light now, that it may so shine through 

our daily lives that men may glorify God, 

how great will be the fullness 

of light and life-power 

filling the soul! 



DAY OR AGE UEON) SIXTH. 



Gen. i. 24-31. 



LIFE ON EARTH; 

OR, 

"fetanittJ, iflfo toiijf ms." 



God is my King of old, working salvation in the midst of the 
earth. Ps. lxxiv. 12. 



Through the tender mercies of our God, whereby the Day-spring 
from on high hath visited us, to give light to them that sit in dark- 
ness. Luke i. 78, ?9. 




(195) 




EMMANUEL, GOD WITH US. 



(Matt. i. 23; Is. vii. 14.) 




" Behold, the Lord God will come, and His arm shall rule for 
Him. He shall feed His flock like a shepherd." (Is. xl. 10, 11.) 

11 1 am the Good Shepherd ; the good shepherd giveth his life for 
the sheep." (John x. 11.) 

ISyE have watched the life of the air and the 
life of the waters, with their hosts unnum- 
bered as the sands of the sea-shore, and now the 
word of the Good Shepherd calls into being the 
tribes of earth, thus perfecting the wide circle of 
life; and we behold the "powerful Word" uphold- 
ing all this varied existence.* 

"Thousands of millions "f near the Voice, and 
live. These mighty tribes prevail for a time, while 
this temple of life awaits its King. To this phase 



* Heb. i. 2. 



f Gen. xxiv. 60. 



(197) 



198 TEE WORD AND TEE TEACEEB. 

of things God gives the sacredness of a special 
creation. As science opens for us the rocky tombs 
of these past generations, we can readily picture 
the huge mastodon, and those kindred forms, which 
reigned in the forests primeval. We may realize 
something of the fullness of delight which then 
filled the earth as we now see the wild goat 
bounding on the " high hills which are their 
refuge." The range of the mountains where the 
creatures play form their pasture — their " heri- 
tage" forever from God.* While these tribes of 
earth rejoice in the gift of life, through all their 
joy and gladness comes the harsh discord of pain, 
and we cannot but marvel as we see that "the 
whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain 
together until now," and learn to touch, and think 
with tenderness of all this wealth of life which, 
ruling for a while on earth, is now joined with 
ours in the mystery of suffering ; and which was 
created by the same Word of power which comes 
to each soul to-day, seeking to recreate in it the 
lost likeness of its Maker. 

* Job xl. 20. 



EMMANUEL, GOD WITH US. 199 

These animal tribes are included in that great 
covenant which was established for "perpetual 
generations." # They are specially named when 
God points out the rainbow as a pledge or sign of 
promise that the wave of destruction should never 
i more, while time lasts, desolate the earth ; so that 
; from the very beginning of our present age of life, 
far back as the human race can be traced, we are 
reminded of the positive claim these dumb kin- 
dred of ours have on our thought and kindness, 
since God has chosen the most glorious symbol in 
Nature, as an eloquent, though a mute appeal that 
we should care for these who suffer with us, serve 
us unto death, and who are a gift from Him for 
our manifold blessing and delight. 

The record reads thus: "The bow shall be in 
the cloud. I will look upon it, that I may remem- 
ber the everlasting covenant between God and 
every living creature of all flesh that is upon the 
earth." f The light of heaven, resting on the 
storm-cloud of earth, becomes the rainbow of hope, 
the visible " token " to man of God's special provi- 

* Gen. ix. 12, 14. f Gen. ix. 16. 



200 THE WORD AND THE TEACHER. 

dence and presence in all earthly things. Man 
also will " look upon it, and remember," not the 
unknown God afar off, but near at hand, mighty 
to save and help — a shield forever between us 
and all that might desolate. 

As this covenant of special Providence is de- 
clared, we are reminded of those lower tribes, our 
dependents; so our care and tenderness in these 
so-called least things, may be a sort of test of what 
our stewardship will be in more sacred interests 
and responsibilities. 

He liveth best who loveth best, all things, both great and 

small ; 
For the dear God who loveth us, He made and loveth all. 

In the sight of God, we are taught # that one 
test of a righteous man is, that he has regard for 
the life of his beast, while even the tender mercies 
of the wicked are cruel. In the Sermon on the 
Mount, the parallel to the golden rule of life is 
given in these words : " With the measure that ye 
mete, it shall be measured to you again ; " and it 

* Prov. xii. 10. 



EMMANUEL, GOD WITH US. 201 

surely will be no palliation of an offence in the 
sight of the Judge over all, who is also the Creator 
of all, that the creature we have left uncared for, 
or have tormented, was dumb and helpless, and in 
our eyes insignificant. We cannot impress our 
minds too vividly with the fact, so often taught in 
the Word, that nothing is insignificant to the God 

i who looked on each creation of life, and " saw 

J that it was good." 

The tenderness of the God of Nature is every- 
where seen, whether we look at the homes pro- 
vided, or the special resources adapted with care 
to each after its kind. The God of Revelation 
may be known as the God of Nature, as we find 
in His Word the gift of the Sabbath not only to 
man, but to all those creatures who have fallen 
directly under his dominion. Not only in the rest 
of the seventh day are they specially included by 
law, but in the Sabbath of years, all the "beasts 

I of the field " are remembered in its blessing. 5 * 
These marked statutes, together with various sec- 
ondary laws, such as, " Thou shalt not muzzle the 

* Ex. xxiii. 1. 



202 TEE WOBD AND TEE TEACHER. 

ox that treadeth out the corn," served as a con- 
stant check on human aggression, and formed one 
of the distinguishing features that served to sepa- 
rate the mass of mankind from the people of God. 

In historic record we are again reminded of this 
communion of life and suffering, awaiting redemp- 
tion from God,* as we read the decree from Mount 
Sinai: "Whosoever toucheth the mount shall be 
put to death; not a hand shall touch it, but he 
shall surely be shot through, whether it be beast 
or man." This and other commands, suggesting 
that as the creature life is involved in our misery, 
and shares with us the burden of sickness and 
daily toil, so it must also benefit vastly by that 
redemption which touches our highest interests, 
yet must inevitably include and react upon even 
the least and most lowly. 

Again and again all this is recalled in Holy 
Writ, as at Nineveh, when the Word of God 
came, saying, "In forty days it shall be over- 
thrown ;"f and the "king arose from his throne, 
and proclaimed the decree through the city, Let 

* Rom. viii. 22, 23. t Jonah iii. 4. 



EMMANUEL, GOD WITH US. 203 

neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, feed or 
drink water; but let man and beast be covered 
with sackcloth. And God saw their works, that 
they turned from their evil ways; and God ac- 
cepted their repentance. And the word came, 
saying, Should not I spare Nineveh, wherein are 
more than six score thousand persons that cannot 
discern between their right hand and their left, 
and also much cattle?" In contrast to the peni- 
tence of the king of "Nineveh, that great city," 
we find, some six centuries earlier, the word of 
warning sent to a king of power, but no repent- 
ance follows ; and c at midnight the first-born of 
Egypt are smitten, from the royal palace of Pha- 
raoh to the dungeon, and the first-born of the 
cattle ; while the Israel of God, and all that cleaved 
to them, had perfect safety.' 

From that time all the first-born were hallowed 
unto God* On that day of redemption was 
founded the law making the first-born of all life 
sacred to the direct service of the sanctuary, or 
else "redeemed with a price."! All of this forms 

* Numb. iii. 13. t Ex. xiii. 2; Deut. xvi. 19. 



204 THE WORD AND THE TEACHER. 

another link which associated that Passover night 
of Egypt with the First-born of the royal line of 
Judah, who is spoken of by the apostle as the First- 
born of every creature, " for by Him were all things 
created."* He is before all things, and by Him 
all things consist. "Also the first-born from the 
dead, that in all things He might have pre-emi- 
nence," and the first-born among many brethren, 
or of those conformed to His image or likeness.f 

" God said, Let us make man in our image, after 
our likeness ; " and thus the tribes of earth receive 
their king, formed "to have dominion." What- 
ever the essential elements were by which prime- 
val man imaged forth the likeness of the Godhead, 
they are not revealed but after many years of life 
beyond the paradise of God, and divided from the 
full communion with the Presence, which enabled 
Him to mirror forth that Nature to the life 
around; the finite reflecting the infinite as the 
mirror the heavens, or the dew-drop the sunshine. 
When all this was in the past, a memory bright 
with prophecy of a possible future, unto Adam, 

* Col. i. 15-18. f Rom. viii. 29; Rev. i. 5. 



EMMANUEL, GOD WITH US. 205 

alienated from the Word, estranged from the na- 
ture and presence of God, there is born a son; 
not in that early glorious likeness, but after his 
own image.* This distinction we find carefully 
made in the fifth chapter of Genesis, where 
also is preserved the slender thread or out- 
line of the race which links ours with the earlier 
world, given us in the names of those memorable 
men who lived when years were as days. Taken 
: together in their direct succession, these form a le- 
gend or parable from God to those who come after, 
i saying, as we render the strange sounds into our 
| familiar tongue, Man, fixed or appointed in misery 
i deplorable, the blessed God shall come down, teach- 
ing that the grave will yield to the weeper rest.f 

This, then, is the only word we have from those 
centuries leading back from the destruction of the 
flood, which overwhelmed the disobedient, to the 
gates of Eden. Above the dark, swift-flowing 
river of time, rise these words of light, spanning 
it with the rainbow of God's promise. 

* Gen. v. 13. 

t Adam— Man: Seth — Fixed or appointed: Noah — Comfort or 
peace. (Gen. v. 29.) 



206 THE WORD AND THE TEACHER. 






In fullness of time prophecy and promise are 
realized, as "Emmanuel, God with us," dwells on 
earth, and talks with man as friend to friend, say- 
ing, "I am the resurrection and the life." 

They who listen to that Voice before whose 
power the grave shall yield its dead, and seek to 
follow where it leads, will be made partakers of 
that resurrection power of the ascended Saviour, 
and death itself become but an episode in life, a 
mere shadow, flitting, like a passing cloud, across 
the brightness of their eternity. To the Christian, 
with soul in allegiance to the King of Life, it is 
only the herald of the resurrection morning, with 
its perfect peace. 

To those in allegiance to the things of earth, or 
preoccupied with them, these words of the Saviour 
come with a tone of warning, reminding them that 
death is but a servant of life, and can have no 
power to make any real change in us. What- 
ever may have been our aim, if the world's ways 
have held or guided our thoughts, then, as the 
sleep of unconsciousness passes away, we awaken 
bewildered, lost in the mazes of eternity, to 



EMMANUEL, GOD WITH US. 207 

which we have no clew, because we have never 
sought it. 

For life here, and its progress beyond the grave, 
there is for all one Guide and Leader, who has 
' come forth to meet us in our daily life, even 
1 Emmanuel, "God with us;" and it is in our daily 
life that we must receive Him, making His pres- 
ence an essential element of that life. Allegiance 
] to Him to-day and here is life with Him hereafter, 
' and safety for the life that now is, as well as that 
* which is to come. He, who above all others has 
\ spoken to the heart and mind of man, has shown 
] us that to His disciple death is no violence to life, 
no awful accident, bmV a halting-place in the on- 
ward march, marking our near approach to and 
possession of that land of promise and prophecy 
which is the paradise of God. 

But the Emmanuel is the likeness of the glory 
of God, the express image of the Godhead, or exact 
expression of that nature; and we, "beholding as 
in a glass, are changed into the same image from 
glory to glory;" therefore, if any man be in Christ, 
he is anew creature, and all things become new. 



208 THE WORD AND THE TEACHER. 

"Marvel not I say unto you, Ye must be born 
again." 

Allegiance to Christ thus becomes the new and 
living way by which the lost likeness is regener- 
ated or re-created in the soul; so that, quickened 
by the Spirit, it is made a child of God, and feels 
the child-like faith, which trusts utterly the Word, 
sent from " our Father in heaven," with its direct 
message of love. Christ came to His own, and 
His own received Him not, but as many as re- 
ceived Him, to them gave He " power to become 
the sons of God." 

As man, the appointed king of this world's life, 
is formed from the dust of the earth he reigns 
over, the divine blessing is breathed into his life, 
and "body, soul, and spirit" are quickened with 
the presence and communion of God. In this 
complex, threefold nature he reflects the likeness 
of his Maker; but it is a short-lived glory that 
abides with him, fleeting as the hours of paradise. 
The spiritual life dies out in man as he fails in 
allegiance to the Word; and now, in our daily 
lives, we bear the image of the earthy, as we speak 



EMMANUEL, GOD WITH US. 209 

in common phrase of soul and body, with their 
twofold worlds, as together forming the unit or 
sum of our life ; in this phrase tracing out the 
likeness of our ancestor,* who was born in the 
image of the Adam, who had wandered far from 
the possibilities and power of the spiritual life. 

In the earlier tongues, image and idea blend in 

one thought. Across the apathy that haunts 

our soul-life as a death-sleep, conies, as a vision, 

! the idea of a real life, with something of eternal 

jj, power working in it, which likens it to its Creator, 

( and fills it with thoughts and realities of the 

' God, its Maker, who gives songs of praise and 

triumph in the night of time. And the Word 

comes, saying, "Awake, thou that sleepest; arise 

from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light;" 

for God, who commanded the light to shine out 

»' of darkness, hath shined in our hearts to give us 
the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of 
Jesus Christ. We are urged to "put on the new 
man," which is renewed after the image of Him 
that created;! being thus born again into the new- 

* Setli. (Gen. v. 3, 6, 8.) f Col. iii. 10. 

14 



210 THE WORD AND THE TEACHER. 

ness of the spirit-life, we can again trace out our 
kinship with the triune nature of the God of 
Revelation, and in the spirit of adoption or son- 
ship commune with the Deity, whom we slowly 
learn to worship in spirit and in truth. 

And so it is written, 'the first man Adam was 
made a living soul, the last Adam a quickening 
spirit: the first man is of the earth, earthy; the 
second man is the Lord from heaven ; howbeit, 
that was not first which was spiritual, but that 
which is natural, and afterward that which is spir- 
itual. And as we have borne the image of the 
earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heav- 
enly. Thanks be to God, which giveth us the vic- 
tory through our Lord Jesus Christ ! Therefore, 
my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast.' Thus we see 
that the spirit of allegiance to the "truth as it is 
in Jesus," is that spirit of adoption or kinship with 
God which crowns us with resurrection power, not 
merely over death in the future, but it is that 
which brings present victory over all things that 
oppress or wear upon us. 

To the world, sunk in apathy and darkness to 



EMMANUEL, GOD WITH US. 211 

all these things of the Spirit, comes the light of 
life, and the "light shineth in darkness, and the 
darkness comprehended it not;" for the god of 
this world hath blinded the eyes of them which 
believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of 
Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto 
them. "As cold water to the thirsty soul, and 
good news from a far country," came the light of 
this gospel of Christ, with its glad tidings of the 
kingdom of heaven near at band. To enter this 
kingdom requires simply allegiance to its King — 
" Emmanuel, God with us, mighty to save." The 
word of Jesus comes to the disciples, " Verily, I 
say unto you, ye who have followed Me in the 
regeneration, when the Son of man shall sit in the 
throne of His glory, shall also reign with Me." # 
Of the day and hour in which this regeneration 
comes, no man knoweth. Perchance beyond the 
shore of time will be the new heavens and new 
earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness; but chief 
token and glory of that time will be that the 
Saviour is King. 

* Rom. i. 6, 9; Rev. v. 10, xxii. 5; 2 Tim. ii. 12; Matt. xix. 28; 
Rom. v. 17. 



212 THE WORD AND THE TEACHER. 

So, with each soul, the hour of its regeneration, 
when all things shall become new or quickened, 
will be when Jesus is enthroned in the heart as 
King, and the glory of the Presence overshadows 
the natural selfism, and abides in the life, filling it 
with the new and heavenly atmosphere of love, 
joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, and faith. 

Let us press to the prize of this high calling in 
Christ, each soul learning practically for itself that 
to be awakened or quickened into this likeness is 
to be satisfied ! Meanwhile, to-day, if we give 
heed to His voice, we may enter into His rest, 
which is glorious ; making us not only companions 
of Jesus in the kingdom and word of patience,* 
but partakers of His resurrection power and life.f 

" I am the Good Shepherd? 

" The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want. He restoreth my 
soul." (Ps. xxiii. 1, 3.) 

" Now the God of all peace, that brought again from the dead our 
Lord Jesus, the great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of 
the everlasting covenant, make you perfect in every good work to 
do His will, working in you that which is well pleasing in His 
sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. 
Amen." (Heb. xiii. 20.) 

* Rev. i. 9; iii. 10. t Acts xvii. 18; Phil. iii. 10; John v. 24, 25. 



EMMANUEL, GOD WITH US. 213 

11 When the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown 
of glory that fadeth not away." (1 Peter v. 4.) 

As the tribes of life appear before us, we recog- 
nize the love of the Good Shepherd. Each day 
the daily bread is given to them, as He upholds all 
things by His powerful word ; but all forms of life 
must be sustained, not only by the visible earthly 
nutriment given for each "after its kind," but the 
invisible life, which thinks, plans, and wills, must 
be fed after its more subtle sort; and we are re- 
minded that the invisible and visible, or the heav- 
enly and earthly, form one life, as we see, through- 
out the realms of Nature, untold wealth of sus- 
tenance for the soul's earnest power of research; 
while the gift to man of the birds of the air and 
the flowers of the field may teach us how precious 
are those finer attributes of our nature in the sight 
of our Maker ; but beyond all power of beauty or 
knowledge to soothe, comes the restlessness which 
prompts man to seek out many inventions, each 
surpassing the other in ability. This by some is 
called progress ; but it only seems to feed the fever 
heat of life, marked with the evil symptoms of 



214 THE WORD AND THE TEACHER. 

apathy to that higher life with God, to grow in 
which is true progress, real development, in every 
faculty of our threefold nature. The fever and 
apathy alike cause us to leave unheeded the voice 
of the Good Shepherd, calling home the straying 
flock to that fold of God, which is the kingdom of 
heaven, so near each one of us, though unseen ; 
and of its world is naught more wondrous told 
us than these few words: "I shall be satisfied." 

So in the Word, which is the bread of life from 
heaven, the highest cravings of our nature will 
find sustenance, while we restlessly strive to still 
their hunger with the amusements of the hour, or 
mere intellectual food. All of these have their 
place ; each may be good after its kind ; but it is 
as vain to offer them for the spirit's need and 
development as to give the child a stone when it 
asks bread. There is no lesson man seems to 
learn more slowly in the school of life than this : 
that spiritual things must be spiritually discerned. 
It is mockery to offer the jewel of science, which 
is the most perfect expression of intellectual truth, 
or the glitter of entertainment, however refined, to 



EMMANUEL, GOD WITH US. 215 

satisfy the soul that yearns for the supernatural 
power and blessing of a life of faith with God. 

In spite of our wanderings, the Good Shepherd 
is not weary, but still seeks us ; and though we, 
like sheep, have gone astray, let us now return to 
the Great Shepherd of our souls* It is a study 
of interest to watch, in the lower tribes of life, the 
traits so common in our own, and see how affec- 
tion and generosity, pride and self-interest, or the 
good and evil of ordinary life, are reflected there 
in very human guise. So much so is this the case, 
that from those tribes of creatures most familiar 
to the eye are drawn many of the Scripture illus- 
trations. In the flock of sheep, it is often seen 
how they will follow blindly where one of their 
number wills to lead ; this is constantly repeated 
in every-day life, where one strong will sways a 
multitude, or where some time-honored custom is 
tenaciously adhered to in spite of the obvious fact 
that the reality it represented is a thing of the 
past. So the life of the world vibrates from the 
demagogues of the present to the effete rules of 

* 1 Peter iii. 25. 



216 TEE WORD AND TEE TEACEEB. 

the past ; but through all this strife, uncertainty, 
and fearful drifting, comes the voice of the Word 
of God to teach and to lead each soul. " For the 
Lord is our God; we are His peoj)le, and the 
sheep of His pasture." In all the wide field of 
the world's life, God teaches us to distinguish 
those who are His by this simple token of the 
Good Shepherd and His flock: "The sheep hear 
His voice, and they follow Him, for they know 
His voice; and there shall be one fold and one 
Shepherd." 

So, wherever we turn, we hear the same glad 
tidings, that this allegiance to Christ will solve all 
the problems and perplexities of the life that now 
is and that which is to come. If we hear and fol- 
low that voice, faith, which is the practical work- 
ing power for good in the world's life to-day, will 
abound in our lives, making them rejoice and 
blossom as a rose. " For faith cometh by hearing, 
and hearing by the Word of God; and this is the 
victory that overcometh the world, even our faith." 
So we are again taught that man in the image 
of his Maker, or, in other words, the child of faith, 



EMMANUEL, GOD WITH US. 217 

is to have dominion over the tribes of life, and the 
troubles of life, through the power of the Word. 

Day One. 

The first hours of creation have taught us that 
"in the bemnninsf was the Word," and that in the 
Word was the power of God, and from the Word 
came forth life and light to man. Of the power 
and progress of daily life with this Word, we may- 
gather something from these days of the visible 
creation. 

In the beginning the earth was without form, 
and void; the Word enters, and there is light. 
So, with the soul's life, the Word comes to its 
chaos and aimless unrest, and though the light 
shineth in the darkness that comprehends it not, 
yet the tempests are stilled, and with those who 
have the will or wish to receive it, the work of 
re-creation or redemption begins. 

Day Second. 

Another era in the life of faith is formed when 
the soul realizes that the Word reveals the way 



218 THE WORD AND THE TEACHER. 

of access to One who can help and heal effectually, 
and who is always present in our daily life to lead 
and bless; and thus the thought of communion 
and prayer springs up, lifting from the weary and 
heavy-laden the cares of earthly life. 

Day Third. 

In the third day the mountains become clearly 
defined, rising slowly above the dead level of the 
waters. So in the soul it is like a new and grand 
creation when the Rock of Ages rises clearly above 
the troubled waters of life's sea, as a sure refuge. 
Gradually it gains in majesty, until, crowned with 
the clouds, the visible life of earth blends with 
that of heaven. Meanwhile the Word ceases not 
in its work, and as time goes on, through hearty 
obedience, the life that wills to follow where it 
leads will abound with the bloom and fruitage 
that have the blessing of God, though He may still 
be known only afar off. 

Day Fourth. 

But the Word comes, that we may not worship 
an unknown God, afar off from our daily life. 



EMMANUEL, GOD WITH US. 219 

Giving heed to the precious words of inspiration, 

the sure word of prophecy will be fulfilled, and 

there will dawn on the waiting soul the star of 

the morning. This, as we have seen, leads to the 

full light of the " Sun of Righteousness," risen in 

high heaven, with healing for each soul that seeks 

its light, even as the sunshine fills the world, and 

we enter into glad allegiance to our King and 

Saviour. 

Day Fifth. 

Even among those who have attained to this 
stand-point of allegiance or progress in the life of 
faith, many remain so passive that they seem sim- 
ply to drift with this world's tide; while others 
arise into the fullness of its possibility, and become 
children of light, intent that the promises of the 
Word be fulfilled in them. 

Day Sixth. 

While thus blessed with the light working with- 
in us, the Word comes again, leading us onward ; 
and we remember that the promise is, that not 
only we shall be blessed, but also become a blessing 
to others ; and we learn to realize that the faith- 



220 THE WOBD AND THE TEACHER. 

power is of God, and the promises unlimited. We 
may not rest passively as "babes in Christ," but 
press forward to the " fullness of our stature." A 
passive allegiance is little more than theoretical 
religion, not the reality, filled with the light of life. 
Holding fearlessly to the Word and its promises, 
we shall be " changed from glory to glory," until 
the likeness of our earthliness fades away in the 
likeness of our Saviour. 

Day Seventh. 

Pressing to the prize of this high calling, Em- 
manuel comes as a friend to meet us, and crowns 
our life with His gift of the Spirit ; receiving this 
from Him, we share not only in the work,* but 
the rest of God. 

These sevenfold phases may be traced in the 
development of Christian belief, and in the history 
of the soul's life. It is ours to choose where we 
will pause on this way of life and blessing, while 
the Word calls upon us not to linger or lose any 
of the sweetness and power of this life of faith. 
* John xiv. 12. 



EMMANUEL, GOD WITH US. 221 

In looking at the record of the sixth aeon, we 
cannot but notice the marked phrase (v. 26), "Let 
us make man in our image." The plural, indicated 
both in verb and pronoun, is the more striking 
since the Jews were so zealously monotheistic. 
Many other phrases in the inspired writings sug- 
gest the same thought. The force of some of 
these disappears in our English translation, but a 
sufficient number remain to excite the inquiry of 
the earnest and thoughtful concerning that mys- 
tery of the nature and being of the Godhead 
which they shadow forth. # 

Christendom and Heathendom unite in the wor- 

* One of the names of Deity most frequently found in the Hebrew 
Scriptures is in the plural form, placed with a verb in the plural, or 
sometimes in the singular, as in the opening verse of the Bible : God 
(Elohim) created. All this is sometimes explained by the custom, 
among comparatively modern kings, of what is called the " style 
royal," or use of the plural in state papers. We may realize how late 
was the origin of this by glancing at the edicts of some of those pow- 
erful monarchs who became associated with the history of the Jewish 
race long after the era of the Pentateuch. (1 Kings v. 8, 9— Tyre; 
2 Chron. xxxii. 13 — Assyria; Ezra i. 2 — Persia; Ezra iv. 19, vi. 8, 
vii. 12, 13; Dan. iv. 2, 4, 6— Babylon; Dan. vi. 25, 26; Esther viii. 7 : 
Ahasuerus (Xerxes), king of Persia, " which reigned, from India 
to Ethiopia, over one hundred and seven and twenty provinces" — 
Esther i. 1. See also Rawlinson's Historical Evidence, lecture v., 
notes 16 and 83.) 



222 THE WORD AND THE TEACHER. 

ship of one God, the infinite and eternal. Among 
the early Romans, no images were allowed in the 
temples devoted to the service of the one God 
afar off from them, who represented the abstract 
unity or entity of the Being of that unknown 
Deity, — the Great Spirit, — in dim worship of 
whom, the Greek philosopher and the red Indian 
of the wild forest meet on common ground. 

But St. Paul speaks of the worship of this un- 
known God as spiritual ignorance, and urges us to 
draw near the God of revelation. The nature 
of the Deity must always be a mystery to the 
finite mind, except so far as God has 'chosen to 
reveal Himself. Let us not remain afar off from 
this loving revelation, in the outermost courts of 
worship, with the Platonist,* or with the savage, 
but let it lead us through the mystery of Trinity 
to the heart of the divine Unity, and to worship 
the known God in spirit and in truth. Revela- 
tion would lead us from the far off to the near — 

* " It may be very intellectual, ingeniouo philosophy, but I have 
often said that I do not know what to do with a metaphysical God, 
and that I will have none but the God of the Bible, who is heart to 
heart with me," {Life and Letters of B. G. Niebuhr.) 



EMMANUEL, GOD WITH US. 223 

even to God, willing and waiting to bless, mani- 
fest to His people in special Providence and 
direct answer to prayer. It would lead from the 
unknown to the known God, who stablishes with 
man the rainbow covenant of hope that guards 
against desolation — even "Emmanuel, God with 
us, mighty to save " whole worlds of life from the 
sin and evil which so closely beset them. 

Let each soul press into closest allegiance to 
this Saviour and Kin^ of Life until the healing 
Presence abides in the heart, and is so manifest 
that each soul may say, " My spirit hath rejoiced 
in God my Saviour." 

" God with us, mighty to save." In the sin and 
suffering around and within, what strength could 
avail, what power could " save to the uttermost," 
but " God — even our own God " ? 

In the uncertainty, and unrest, and vagueness, 
who can guide but God Himself? Therefore hath 
the Saviour sent forth the Holy Spirit, who will 
guide, comfort, and teach us to discern. 

Like the shekinah of the Presence, which rested 
in the holy temple, would the presence of "God 



224 THE WORD AND THE TEACHER. 

with us" rest in our daily lives, quicken us into 
temples of the Holy Spirit, filling us with faith- 
power to move the mountains of evil and suffering 
under which the under world of our human broth- 
erhood is so visibly heavy-laden. 

The Godhead take counsel : " Let us make man 
in our image;" from the dust of the ground the first 
man, Adam, is formed. The glory of that early life 
is but a type and far-off prophecy of the perfected 
life that awaits us, and is possible for us, since the 
Christ of God has breathed upon our earth-bound 
life and apprehension, saying, "Receive ye the 
Holy Spirit." 

Like the pillar of cloud and flame leading the 
desert wanderers, so do the Word of God and 
Spirit of God come to us as Saviour and Com- 
forter, — leading us home to the Father's 
house, where there are many man- 
sions, and heart-room for 
each and all. 



DAY OR AGE CffiON) SEVENTH. 



THE HIGHER LIFE; 

OR, 

%ist our QtsL 



Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give 
you rest. Matt. xi. 28. 



And His Rest shall be glorious. 



Is. xi. 10. 




(225) 




CHRIST OUR REST. 



THE SABBATH OF THE SOUL. 




" And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall 
stand for an ensign to the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek, and 
His rest shall be glorious." (Is. xi. 10.) 

iTEP by step, day by day, the Word has 
led us from the chaos and unrest of earth 
to the rest of God and heaven. In the beginning, 
day one merges or is lost to sight in eternity; so, 
with this seventh day, the end is not given, but its 
morning blends in the eternal day of God — the 
" great I AM," or always-existing. As we ponder 
the few phrases of the successive aeons, we find 
them heavy-laden with the manifold thoughts of 
God; but in this the one thought of rest is su- 
preme. 

(227) 



228 



THE WORD AND THE TEACHER. 



All the hosts of them. (Gen. ii. 1.) 

We are living late in time, — so late in the 
night of the seventh age, that the morning star 
has dawned, — yet there is constantly found some 
new phase or province in life unknown before, 
enabling us to realize the fullness and force of the 
phrase, "All the hosts of them." The Word of 
the Good Shepherd, as He leads forth His flock, 
calls us to consider how the life of earth blends in 
that of heaven, naming, as of one life, the hosts of 
both ; reminding us that as eternity must include 
time, so heaven includes earth, and is in it, enfold- 
ing it from harm. So that the words which usher 
in our Saviour's ministry are no mere rhetoric, but 
a living fact to those who enter into allegiance to 
this "kingdom of heaven, near at hand." 

The shadows of the seventh night are still with 
us. Although over the soul-life of the world the 
dawn is breaking, yet the mists of dawn serve to 
veil and disguise the realities about us, making 
things appear as they are not; but the dawn must 
lead to full light. Let us cleave to the Word, 



CHRIST OUR REST. 229 

which leads us, day by day, from good to very 
good, remembering that of development and life- 
power, " the Word is the seed." # 

It is finished. 

No more the Word comes with creative power 
to earth. God rests, or ceases to add from His 
infinite storehouse of power any new element of 
life; but from the word that is spoken springs 
forth the fullness of daily life, in token of the 
power of that Word that " cannot return void " f 
or empty to the God from whom it came forth. 

"It is finished!" All things essential to earth 
are present with it. The creative work of God > 
so far as concerns this world, is ended. All its 
hosts, with the plant and creature in myriad 
beauty — all these are but the harvest of the 
Word, that seed-germ of life and development 
cast in the early chaos. 

God rests ! and the wonderful life-harvest, from 
that far-off time until to-day, is but a sign to us 
of the power of the engrafted Word. As the 

* Luke viii. 11. t Is. lv. 11. 



230 THE WORD AND THE TEACHER. 

chaos of soul-life arose, and the life of man was 
seen hedged in with sin and pain, that mystery 
of iniquity,* the Word of salvation comes forth 
from God, not creating, but restoring! it in the 
likeness of God, through its mighty power of safety 
and healing. 

Priest, prophet, and angel ministered the Word 
to the sin-sick and suffering soul of humanity, 
when, in fulfillment of "all that the prophets have 
spoken," % the Christ came forth from the bosom 
of the Father, setting a final seal of sacredness on 
their sure life-word, and leading man to rest in 
the Word and its redemption § — engrafting this 
on their daily life, so that it would bring forth the 
fruitage of heaven. "The Sower came forth to 
sow" this seed of life in the soul of man, and 
we see that the "rest of God is man's redemp- 
tion." 

From the cross comes to us the same word 
which marshaled the hosts of creation : " It is 

* 2 Thess. ii. 7. f Re-creation, re-generation. % Luke xxiv. 25. 
§ "My Father worketh hitherto, and I work;" the work given 
Me I have finished, for " I came to fulfill." 






CHRIST OUR REST. 231 

finished." Even then were fields of soul-life ripe 
for the "Lord of the harvest." "Lo! in the 
volume of the Book it is written ; " of all that is 
essential to the soul's health and present develop- 
ment, the seed lies there. To the "measure of 
the stature of the life it reveals, no human thought 
can add." The TTord of salvation has come to 
us; with faith quickened to claim this wealth of 
our inheritance, we may even here on earth and 
to-day enter into the rest of God,* the paradise 
of His presence. 

Of the soul-harvest we again learn from the 
record of the prophecy of our future : f "In the 
days of the voice of the seventh angel, the mys- 
tery $ of God shall be finished;" and as the seventh 
angel sounded, " there were great voices in heaven, 
saying, The kingdoms of this world are become 
the kingdoms of our Lord and His Christ, and He 
shall reign forever and ever." "We give Thee 

* Heb. iv. 1, 3. t Rev. x. 7; xi. 15, 17. 

X Having- made known the mystery of His will, that in fullness 
of time He might gather all things in Christ which are in heaven 
and on earth (Eph. i. 9) ; the mystery of Christ now revealed by His 
apostles, prophets, and the Spirit (Eph. iii. 4; Col. i. 26). 



232 TEE WORD AND TEE TEACEER. 

thanks, O Lord God Almighty, which art, and 
wast, and art to come, because Thou hast taken to 
Thee Thy great power, and hast reigned." This 
is the song of the harvest home of the world; 
the seed of this harvest is the Word and its 
prophecy — the word of our Saviour on the cross, 
"It is finished." 

Long before the "year of the redeemed,"* or 
"the day of the Lord," is come to the whole 
world, this kingdom of God, with its perfect 
redemption, may come to the soul that is in 
allegiance to the Word. To rest in the word 
and will of God is to be redeemed, and to have 
in all our goings out and comings in the promise 
fulfilled, as it has been for so many centuries, 
to the children of faith : " My presence shall 
go with you, and I will give you rest." Mean- 
while, the Lord of the harvest has said, "I judge 
you not ; but the Word I have spoken, that shall 
judge you at the last day." Let us sow this Word 
of salvation in our hearts, that the bloom of eternal 
life may fill it. 

* Is. lxi. 2, lxiii. 4; Joel iii. 15; Luke iv. 19. 



CHB1ST OUR REST. 233 

The Silence of Rest. 

The creative Word is silent; yet its presence 
lives among us as the successive seed-time and 
harvest show us its might and echo its praise. 
The storms of chaos are still as silent before its 
power as when man entered on that probation life 
for which God prepared the earth to be inhabited, 
forming the school of humanity in which is fash- 
ioned or chosen the life to come. We are born 
here in circumstances over which we have no con- 
trol, our little day called life being given to choose 
our place for eternity, the text-book and guide 
being found in the Word. 

The great heart and soul-life of humanity presses 
on, it may be in conscious, steadfast obedience to 
this Word already spoken which sways its life, or 
it may be carefully, painfully toiling on from day 
to day : suddenly there comes to each and all the 
voice of the Mighty Angel, saying, " It is finished," 
and God casts over its busy ways the veil of the 
silence of death. And then those days of proba- 
tion, whatever their aim, are marshaled by the 



234 THE WORD AND THE TEACHER. 

Angel of God in due order — all the hosts of 
them. 

Through the death-sleep, with its hush of silence, 
will the voice of that life come forth more plainly 
than ever before, living still among men in bless- 
ing or warning, while the soul passes to its own 
place in the life beyond. What it has really 
sought it will there forever find. "He that is 
unjust, let him be unjust still; he that is holy, let 
him be holy still." 

We read of " silence in heaven." # A poet's f 
true insight leads us to see the angels of God 
pause in their service before the throne of God, 
pressing earthw r ard around the suffering Saviour 
as they gaze in wonder and awe at the love of 
God manifest on the cross. X Meanwhile the hu- 
man life flows on, it would seem, but little moved 
by that which stirred the height of heaven. 

The Silence of Death. 

This comes to all, to shield from the pitiless 
glare. of earthly life, and the varied evils time must 

* Rev. viii. 1. f Mrs. Browning. \ 1 Peter i. 12; Matt. xxvi. 53. 



C HEIST OUR REST. 235 

bring. As this Sabbath hush comes of rest sent 
from God, imagine the awakening to the toil- 
stricken laborer in the deadening atmosphere of 
the factory, or the underground workman of the 
mine — those spirits in the prisons of earth, whose 
dumb lives pass to the One who preached to 
such, that they might have life from Him ! "They 
go down into silence;" but is it not that silence 
of heaven which meets them, leading them to 
look with the angels, at the crucified Saviour, 
and find the perfect life He died to give them. 
Not only these social serfs, who are kept by the 
pride of the task-master, as "dwellers in silence" 
from the Word of Life ; or those who seem tied to 
an endless chain of petty duties, keeping them 
from the fresh air of heaven, but they who have 
the world before them; their souls become fettered 
by the weighty chain of conventional custom or 
fashion, which " steals the time of God " (as the 
proverb says), given them to share with the Christ 
the work of redeeming the heavy-laden. The one 
thing which must be a real fact to all these is the 
coming of the Death- Angel — that sure, dark 



236 THE WORD AND THE TEACHER. 

hunter of the German legend : to this they seek 
to shut their eyes, as the bird of the desert tries to 
avoid its pursuer. Yet over their life must come 
the same silence as it passes hence from fevered 
unrest to reality ! and what reality can they grasp 
who have never sought to find ? In the world of 
phantoms they have chosen to live, seeking amuse- 
ment, or whatever might suit their whim ; in the 
shadow-land of Hades their life goes on, forever 
pursuing, forever eluding, and like Death, their 
master, cannot be satisfied. But, to the Christian, 
while to live on earth is Christ or anointing, to die 
is gain, passing from the strife of earth to that Sab- 
bath or "rest which is glorious," as God giveth 
His beloved sleep. 

But the bustle of the world goes on, and seeks 
to fill with its stir the silent places death leaves as 
it takes our loved ones ; but let these vacant places 
be kept sacred, even as the holy of holies, where 
God will meet with us, and we may hear His Word, 
with its still small voice, yet mightier than the 
mighty shock which has jarred our life to its depths. 

In the dread silence left in the hearts of those 



CHRIST OUR REST. 237 

who listen in vain for the footfall whose coming 
would be as the light of heaven — in even this 
may come the wondrous peace that springs from 
angel-ministry, — nay, from the very presence of 
the God of all patience and comfort ; that peace 
which stills in the soul the tempest of selfish sor- 
row, and quickens it to gather up the fragments of 
life remaining, and bring them to Jesus ; and, led 
by the Spirit to leave merely earthly things behind, 
press to the prize of the high calling of the life in 
Christ, which makes manifest the life beyond the 
grave. As the sleep of death presses in all around 
us with its silence, let us learn the lesson, and 
draw near the One who hath the keys of death 
and Hades, who is Lord of the Sabbath or rest. 

" Though with silence only as their benediction God's 

angels come, 
When, in the shadow of some great affliction, the soul sits 

dumb ; " 

yet the power of such manifestations leaves a 
sacred hush in life, which, though it can never be 
translated into human speech, marks an era in 
which the soul learns anew to worship. 



238 THE WORD AND THE TEACHER. 

Silent as the stars are these ministering angels 
sent by the Christ ; * yet the stars lead us in the 
darkness of night, and bring us the light of heaven: 
so they who pass from this world to the Eternal 
Light shall shine as the stars of heaven, and are 
associated with the angel hosts as messengers of 
God, ministering to man.f 

God, who alone "can bind the sweet influences 
of the Pleiades " and guide Arcturus, % has bound in 
one bundle or sheaf of life the varied soul-kindred 
of those in heaven and on earth. Through the 
Word only do we get sure glimpses of the near- 
ness of this higher life, and the great communion 
in which all life blends in the Christ of God. 

We slowly realize how vast is the temple of life 
on the threshold of which we stand, and that God 
rules with present power over its many mansions. 
The Death-Angel is but the messenger to all, say- 
ing, " The Lord is in His holy temple ; let all the 
earth keep silence before Him." As our loved 
ones leave us, let us learn this silence from earth- 
liness, and behold the opened heavens, where we 

* John i. 51; Gen. xxviii. 12. f Ileb. i. 14. % Job xxxviii. 31, 32. 



CHRIST OUR REST. 239 

see enthroned, as Lord of the holy temple of life, 
the Saviour, who has said to all, " Come unto Me, 
and I will give you rest." Shall we not pause in 
the bustle of life long enough to receive, reverently 
and thankfully, from our Lord this gift filled with 
the peace of God, which passeth understanding? 

Turning in mute appeal to the Lord of all life 
from that sad boundary-line of earth, the grave, 
it may become as the Angel of God to the soul, 
bringing death to self, silence from our earthly 
unrest; and we may hear the voice from heaven 
saying, " It is in vain for you to rise up early, and 
so late take rest, and eat the bread of carefulness, 
for so He giveth His beloved in their sleep." # 

Let us look to the Life-Giver, whp, in crowning 
the gift of life with rest, saves to the uttermost — 
even now in this earthly world. Meanwhile the 
Death-Angel gathers the harvest of life ; a thou- 
sand souls leave earth behind each moment of 
time, yet we are told of a final life-harvest : i For 
behold, I show you a mystery; we shall not all 
sleep, but in a moment we shall be changed, for 

* Greek version. 



240 



THE WORD AND THE TEACHER. 



the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall bo 
raised : and this corruptible must put on incorrup- 
tion, this mortal must put on immortality, and 
dea tli be swallowed up in victory.' These glowing 
words would specially thrill the heart of the Jew, 
and of every one versed in the older record of 
God's dealing with man — that record which the 
apostle of the Gentiles loved so well, and pointed 
out to us as a precious gift from God. 

"For thus spake Jehovah : In the seventh month, 
in the first day of the month, shall ye have a Sab- 
bath * — a memorial of blowing of trumpets." f 
This day was the new-year holiday of the civil 
year, and kept in high festival. According to the 
Jewish rabbis, it commemorated the birthday of 
the world, or that beginning of creation " when the 
morning stars sang together, and all the sons of 
God shouted for joy." It was also a tradition 
among these rabbis that this day in every year God 
judges all men, making them pass as a flock before 
the shepherd. Some allusion to this idea is per- 
haps found in Job i. 6: "Now there was a day 

* Sabbath is the Hebrew word for Rest. | Lev. xxiii. 24. 



cnnisT our best. 241 

when the sons of God came to present themselves 
before Jehovah." 

The feast of trumpets ushered in a season of 
wild rejoicing, lasting until that day of atonement 
which proved the most- solemn and unique obser- 
vance of the entire sacred service. Then came the 
feast of the tabernacles, when the whole multitude 
of worshipers were summoned from their tents 
of boughs, from the mountains round about Jeru- 
salem, to the temple, by the priests sounding the 
silver trumpets. 

These trumpets, in the time of the desert taber- 
nacle, were two in number.* Later, at the conse- 
cration of the temple, we read of a hundred and 
twenty priests t sounding with trumpets as part 
of the solemn music of the sacred service; while, 
still later, it is said a thousand priests sounded 
their trumpets on the white walls of the temple 
to gather the people for their sacred feast of the 
tabernacle, when they brought the first fruits of 
their wine and oil. Thus the whole seventh month 
became, as it was called, the Sabbath month of the 

* Numb. x. 2, f 2 Chron. v. 12. 

16 



242 TEE WORD AND TEE TEACEER. 

year, and otherwise marked as the time they began 
to plow and sow; while the last fruits of the har- 
vest from the olive trees were ingathered. 

The Jubilee Trumpet. 

Still more remarkable than any of these associa- 
tions was the Sabbath or rest of the seventh year, 
which began with .the feast of trumpets of that 
year, and derives its name from the sound of that 
instrument. The laws concerning this year of rest, 
the freedom and redemption from poverty and 
care, and the miracles by which it was sustained, 
are familiar to all. This year of rest was so marked 
a feature in Jewish history that Alexander the 
Great remitted all taxes for that year, after his 
conquest of the country. 

When seven of these Sabbath years had been 
kept, and after seven times seven years had passed, 
came the jubilee year, or great festival, in which 
perfect redemption was re-established in the land, 
and the fiftieth year was added as an additional 
Sabbath of rest; but this also was solemnly inau- 
gurated on the day of atonement, and the sound 



CHRIST OUR REST. 243 

of the trumpet was heard not only in the temple 
and city of Jerusalem, but throughout the land.* 

All these laws were a constant defence to the 
oppressed and unfortunate, and served as a con- 
stant check on the aggression of the rich ; besides 
which the special miracle of the sustenance of the 
people t was a token of the presence of God with 
His people, fulfilling the promise of the Covenant 
Angel, who " dealt wondrously." t "My presence 
shall go with you, and I will give you rest." § 

The historic' associations with the trumpet sound 
are of interest, as well as those connected with the 
sacred service. Far back as the time of the Judges, 
we read of the Jewish leader, who, with his three 
hundred men, with their trumpets and lamps, de- 
stroyed the power of the Prince of Midian, whose 
" hosts were as the sand of the sea." || 

Previous to this was that strange siege of Jeri- 
cho. On the seventh day the seven priests, with 
seven trumpets, go seven times around the walls 
of the doomed city. The ark of God was carried 

* Lev. xxv. 8-17. f .Ex. xxiii. 1. J Judges xiii. 19. 

§ Ex. xxxiii. 14. jj Judges vii. 12, 18. 



244 THE WORD AND THE TEACHER. 

with them, and the men of war followed ; and 
then giving the jubilee note,* each man went up 
straight before him, over the prostrate walls, which 
had fallen at that sound. Thus they gained pos- 
session of the promised land in a way well suited 
to make them lean on the arm of Jehovah, rather 
than their own strength. 

Earlier than this was the long sound of the 
trumpet heard on Mount Sinai as the herald of 
the Word of God, and all the people bowed in 
worship, f In sacred history this trumpet-tone 
speaks of victory and solemn worship, as well as 
freedom and perfect rest. We trace it back to 
the hour when the Word was miraculously given 
to man ; when God was heard speaking with hu- 
man voice. % 

* The words translated trumpets of ram's horns seem to refer to 
the jubilee trumpet; either the special form then used, or the long* 
sound, which was the note peculiar to that time. 

t " When the trumpet soundcth long, they shall come up to the 
mount; . . . and . . . Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because the 
Lord descended upon it in fire; . . . and when the voice of the trum- 
pet sounded long- and waxed louder and louder, Moses spake, and 
God answered him by a voice." (Ex. xix. 13-18, 19.) This long or 
great sound of the trumpet was echoed in Sabbath years of rest and 
redemption. It is referred to in Isaiah xxvii. 13. 

t Ex. xix. 19, 21. 



CHRIST OUR REST. 245 

To the world at large the trumpet has been the 
herald of royal power, whether in command of life 
and death, or the personal coming of the king. 
Again, in the battle-field, armies were marshaled 
by its voice rising vividly above the confusion. 
Above the world's life rises the "trump of God" — 
even the voice of the Word, which leads, with its 
" certain sound," the church militant from Sinai to 
the gates of heaven. 

Without this definite Holy Word we should 
falter in the "fio;ht of faith " neither knowing the 
might of the powers, which war against the soul, 
— thus sinking into nerveless inaction; — nor the 
strength that is with the children of faith, who 
listen for the Voice to lead. "If the trumpet 
give an uncertain sound, who shall .prepare him- 
self to the battle?" therefore the definite Word 
is given as our most sacred gift on earth from 
God ; while those who with certain tone so echo 
the Word that others give it due heed, — are as 
angels of God to the souls of men. 

With the Jew, for many years, * the trumpet 
was the herald of the direct command or provi- 



246 



THE WORD AND THE TEACHER. 



dence of God in their daily life, that they might be 
saved from their enemies.* It was an " ordinance 
forever" that it should call the people to their 
solemn assemblies, and was heard in their sacred 
feasts.f The trumpet summoned to the temple an 
entire nation, as the church bell now summons all 
Christendom to praise and prayer. The Christian 
may well feel, with the Jew, the gladness and 
sacredness of these associations. 

For the trumpet tone of Sinai shall again sound, 
long and louder, as it summons, not one nation 
only, but the whole world to worship, saying, "Be- 
hold your King." Of this the Saviour speaks, 
concerning " the tribes of earth," They shall see 
the Son of man coming with power and great 
glory, and He shall send His angels with a great 
sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather His 
elect, who are (we thus learn) they who listen to 
the voice of the Word. % 

The apostle tells us that "the Lord Himself 

* Numb. x. 1-8, 9. 

t Is. i. 13; Ps. lxxxi. 3; 1 Chron. xiii. 8, Xvi. 0; 2 Chron. vii. 6, 
xxix. 27, 28. 

X Matt. xxv. 31; Rev. i. 10, 12, 13. 



CHRIST OUR REST. 241 

shall descend from heaven, with the voice of an 
archangel, and the trump of God; and the dead 
in Christ shall rise first."* As we listen to this 
word, our hearts even now thrill as with the sound 
of the "trump of God," nerving us to the battle 
of life. The herald trumpet will sound louder and 
longer, as time goes on, until these little years of 
man cease in the endless redemption of the eternal 
years, with the untold freedom that awaits the 
child of God, when, the time of our warfare being 
ended, we share His rest, which is glorious. 

"The Number Seven" 

Three and seven are the numbers of mystery 
and power in the intellectual traditions of man. 
In the East specially, curious research has been 
made into the properties of numbers, in connec- 
tion with their studies of the stars. Whatever of 
truth or error may mingle in all these efforts to 
find the " soul of numbers," we are constantly 
reminded of the number seven in the Inspired 
Record, whether we look at the sevenfold law of 

* 1 Thess. iv. 16, 18. 



248 THE WORD AND THE TEACHER. 

development laid down in the seven SBons of crea- 
tion, or at the seven phases of life and its history, 
guided by their several angels, of which we have 
some idea given us in the Apocalypse of St. John.* 
The life of the church of God is there presented in 
sevenfold form, both in time of duration and devel- 
opment. So that, in these seemingly least things, 
a subtle law or principle is manifest, and the law 
of soul-life has its analogy in the more palpable 
matters of this material world, which is adorned 
with the glory and beauty of sevenfold coloring. 
The Word, in the history of the past, as well as 
in the outline of the future, frequently recurs to 
this number, which it finally associates with the 
work of the Spirit or Teacher of Truth, of which 
-the sevenfold flame of the sacred light or candle- 
stick is a God-given type. The intellectual world 
has vaguely grasped at something of this truth, as 
it divides man's life in its seven ages. Tradition, 
specially of the Jew, assigns seven thousand years 
as the term of duration of the present forms of life 
on earth, and the final or seventh thousand, which, 



* Rev. viii. 12; xvi. 1. 



C HEIST OUR BEST. 249 

according to Hebrew chronology, is near at hand, 
will be the great jubilee or rest, or the Sabbath of 
centuries, to which those of days and years were 
but the prophecy ; this also would be inaugurated 
with the sound of trumpets on the final celebration 
of the sacred day of atonement. Akin to this 
idea of the ancient scholars is that of the millennial 
reign of Christ on earth, which is held by many 
Christians. 

The Egyptians and Hindu races divided their 
time into weeks of seven days, founded on the sup- 
posed number of the planets. This number re- 
ceives the strongest association we have with it, 
from the fact that Jehovah, when His people are 
led forth from bondage, makes this division of 
time perpetual, as from Sinai goes forth the law 
of the seventh, or Sabbath of rest, to break from 
which was death. 

The Seventh Day, or Sabbath of It est. 

If we would gain some idea of the power of 
redemption and freedom the Word would bring 
into our daily life, let us look at this gift of God 



250 THE WORD AND THE TEACHER. 

as it came to the Hebrews, condemned by per- 
petual toil to speedy death, or a life so wretched 
that death was the longed-for and only emancipa- 
tion. Unheeded as the leaves fall in the forest 
they died at their endless tasks. 

Redeemed by the might of Jehovah, they pause 
in the wilderness to hear the life-word. As the 
memorial of their freedom, and seal and sign of the 
Redeemer's presence, comes this gift of the sev- 
enth of time as a rest, in which the souls of God's 
children might commune with their Redeemer and 
Guide. With this gift comes the token of the 
Most Merciful, whose care is over all His works ; 
as the rest of the house-servant, slave, and beast 
of burden is enjoined as part of that sacred service 
of obedience to the Word, which from Sinai until 
now is the covenant sign of friendship with God. 
For years the sacredness of this law of rest was 
impressed on the dull hearts and minds of His 
people by the double portion of manna. 

In a merely physical point of view, this law 
of the seventh has been proved a law of life, — 
its observance is essential to positive health and 



CHRIST OUR REST. 251 

vigor.* But from the first we see that more than 
mere physical vigor or refreshment was included in 
the blessing intended by Him who gave this gift. 
Even the rest wherewith God Himself will cause the 
weary to rest, and refresh the soul of those ready; 
to perish, is promised here to all the " weary and 
heavy-laden," who in heart and truth seek the rest 
so often promised far back in the wilderness life, 
and now again to us if we will come to Christ, and 
follow Him. 

This rest of the soul, or communion with God, 
is found in these words of our Saviour : " If a man 
love Me, and keep My sayings, My Father will 
love him, and We will come unto him, and make 
Our abode with him." As a means of attaining to 
this friendship with the God of Revelation comes 
this gift of the Sabbath, which we are told shall 
be a delight, and honorable or honored, among all 
the children of faith. To mar the beauty of this 

* This has been thoroughly and even profanely tested, as, in the 
French Revolution, they substituted the law of the tenth, or that 
of their own will and works, for obedience to the will and way of 
God; while, at the same time, they gave homage to the god of 
reason, rather than the Jehovah of revelation. 



252 



THE WORD AND THE TEACHER. 



gift, science and bigotry have done their worst ; 
it is not given us that we might seek transient rest 
from our own amusements, but that we might find 
abiding joy and rest in the presence of our Re- 
deemer, and the loving thoughts of our heavenly 
Father. The observance of this seventh of time, 
as sacred to communion with God and learning to 
grasp the facts and jn'omises of His glorious reve- 
lation, was enforced by some of the most definite 
of the promises of temporal blessing in the whole 
Word. But how many toil on, like the Egyptian 
serf, without this rest that abideth for the people 
of God, their lives filled with self-imposed tasks ! 
All this reminds us that the power and fullness 
of these thoughts of God, concerning our salvation 
or redemption, — that is, our safety and healing, — 
cannot possibly be apprehended without patient 
and reverent attention. Even in the beauty and 
' glory of the art world, they who would learn its 
truth must be patient and diligent before they can 
understand the work of the masters, much less 
attempt any of their own; therefore, when God 
speaks to His children, and brings gifts to man, we 



CHBIST OUR REST. 253 

should take them reverently, and listen humbly, 
that we may the more quickly come home to the 
fullness of meaning, and the love thus shown. 

Obviously, man must always be a learner, and 
God, his Maker, must best know the way home 
to Himself. He has given the Text-Book of Life, 
His Word ; while, to those who receive it, the in- 
terpreter is promised — even the Spirit of Truth, 
who, since our Saviour's ascension, is as manifest 
in the life of the Church of God, and the hearts of 
believers, as the Covenant Angel was in leading 
the Church through the wilderness. 

The Word forms holy ground where God and 
man may meet; and where this is kept sacred, as 
of old, the glory of the Presence will shield and 
enlighten the soul. While time lasts the law of 
the seventh, or Sabbath of rest, must be a law 
of life as needful to the development of the strong- 
est as to the weakest. 

The Seventh JEon. 

The first few verses of God's Book* give the 
outline of the endless ages of creation ; the whole 

* Forming chapter first, which should end with Gen. ii. 3. 



254 THE WORD AND THE TEACHER. 

of the remainder hardly takes us to the close of 
the seventh aeon ; it sketches the life of man on 
earth, and as the twilight of time ceases in eter- 
nity, the full power of its light is lost in the 
clear shining of the glory of God. # The older 
record of the Word does not take us through 
evening or night ; while the later Record, or New 
Testament, begins with the coming of the Morn- 
ing Star. The light which that dawn has prophe- 
sied has not yet fully prevailed on earth. 

In the beginning of this seventh day, the key f 
to all its life is given ; its aim and end being rest 
in the presence of God. 

Paradise. 

" To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, 
which is in the midst of the garden of God." (Rev. ii. 7.) 

The first step in the world of the seventh aeon 
leads to the Garden of Eden, the paradise of God, 
where we see in full harmony the creations of life 
on earth. As in our own time, at certain seasons, 
the light seems to glow far into the night, so the 

* Rev. x. 1-6; xxi. 23. t Gen. ii. 1-3. 



CHRIST OUR REST. 255 

evening of this seventh clay seems full of light, 
neither of sun or moon, glowing far into the night 
of time, u with glimpses of glory ne'er forgot," 
which have served as the prophecy of an eternal 
light, the coming of which would fill the earth 
with its fullness. 

Jehovah. 

As the Creator breathes the living soul into the 
dust of the ground, and man is formed, we find 
the Deity made known to us by this name Jeho- 
vah, which is translated, here and elsewhere, Lord. 
From the beginning, in God's direct dealing with 
man, we find this special name indicating the Holy 
One by whom the Godhead is made manifest.* 

From the very first we are led, not to an un- 
known God, who may be vaguely worshiped ; but 
He draws near, and is seen not only in paradise, 
but in the wilderness time, as the Covenant Angel 
Jehovah, leading His people. TTe find Him mani- 
fest where the Bethel, or house of God, is first 
founded. When the ladder, or way to heaven, is 

* John i. 18; Acts ii. 36 ; Mark i. 24 j Is. xli. 4, 14, 16, 20 ; xliii. 15 ; 
xlvii. 4 ; xlviii. 17, 18. 



256 THE WORD AND THE TEACHER. 

shown the weary wanderer, behold, Jehovah stood 
above it* and said, I am the Lord God of Abra- 
ham; I am with thee, and will keep thee, in all 
places whither thou goest ; f and Jacob vowed, 
saying, If God will be with me, so that I come to 
my Father's house in peace, then shall Jehovah be 
my God. 

The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, or 
the One who appeared to them, makes known 
the memorial name by which He is loved, and 
worshiped by the tribes in the wilderness ; X in 
the land of rest, § and through the long ages, the 
"Jehovah" God of Israel is made known to us as 
"the Wonderful, the Counselor, the Mighty God," 
wielding for our welfare the power of the Godhead. 

"But no man hath seen God at any time; the 
Only-begotten, which is in the bosom of the Father, 
hath declared Him " So that, in all these mani- 
festations, we learn to recognize the One who, 
ascended in the heavens, is seated at the right 
hand of God, or, in other words, is the right hand 

* Gen. xxviii. 13, 15; John i. 51. t Matt, xxviii. 19. 

% Ex. vi. 3. § Josh. vi. 16 \ xxiii. 1. 



CHRIST OUR REST. 257 

or executive of the throne of power — even the 
Saviour of man, whom each disciple now, as of old, 
slowly learns to recognize as "my Lord and my 
God." 

Hence the Jehovah of power in the Old Testa- 
ment is the Lord of power and love in the New — 
the unchangeable Christ, who is "the same yester- 
day, to-day, and forever ; " who is the head of all 
things, by whom all things were made, and who, 
from the first hour of man's life on earth, seeks to 
lead him into the fullness of blessing through His 
manifest presence. 

The River. 

The glad life of Eden was. bounded and sus- 
tained by the river, which' was "parted into four 
heads;" and this, among the early Christians, was 
a favorite type of that pure river of life, the Word, 
which sustained the Church on earth, and which is 
divided into four great streams as we receive it 
through the four evangelists; each one being, in its 
details, associated with some sj^ecial thoughts and 
facts, whose preciousness is as great and as distinct 
as the gold and gems of Havilah* 

* Gen. ii. 11, 12. 



258 THE WORD AND THE TEACHER. 

To enjoy the fullness of the land, and the bless- 
ing of the jDaraclise of God, one thing only was 
required, and that seemed simple enough : it was 
to obey the Word, which came directly from the 
Creator and Giver of all good gifts. 

"Every Living Creature?* 

Man is placed as king over the tribes of life ; the 
varied creatures are brought before him, and he 
names them. We have here not only a token of 
the s acre dn ess of the charge from God, in being 
the regent of His mercy and power, but we have a 
glimpse* of a far wider communion of life and joy 
than now exists, as the creature-life readily re- 
sponds to the voice of its monarch, not having 
learned the long and bitter lesson of the "fear and 
dread " of man, which is now the ruling instinct ; 
for man had not then wandered from the loving 
thought and word of God. 

A Help~mee% or Kindred. 

A help-meet is now given Adam, to form one 
life with him, in which we see the truth that 

* Gen. ii. 19. 



CHRIST OUR REST. 259 

meets us everywhere, of one-ness, being not mere 
numerical oneness, but the unity of nature or being, 
made up, it may be, of many in one. One stands 
only as the key to the nature of the manifold life 
or power it suggests to the mind. Many in one is 
the highest expression of harmonized powder in the 
latest advances of civilization, whether in the po- 
litical world of government, or of practical working 
power ; while a mere unit forever remains a cold, 
lifeless abstraction. 

Our Saviour, as He walked on earth, looking 
back to this hour when the ties of soul-kindred 
were solemnly appointed by the Creator, refers to 
it not only as a literal fact, but one well worthy 
our care and attention. The fact constantly comes 
before us, in which one soul stands forth as pledged 
in allegiance to another before God and man, to 
trust, or have implicit faith, in its word, even unto 
death, and, through this faith, to become one with 
its life. On such kindred God sets the seal of 
sacred ness, as He makes it a type of our soul's 
allegiance and trust in His life-word. 

According to the degree of faith, and the alle- 



260 THE WORD AND THE TEACHER. 

giance and communion springing from it, so is the 
degree of kinship arising from it, and so with our 
life of faith in God. But the Word is given, and 
its promises pledged to us, that we may cling to it 
with the unquestioning courage of manhood, and 
rise to its grandest possibilities with the unfalter- 
ing devotion of womanhood. Let us draw so near 
that the light of the Word and the Spirit may rest 
upon and shine through the daily life, investing it 
with the halo of Eden's gladness, so that others 
may see and rejoice in the presence of God. 

Now the Serpent was more subtle than any Beast 
of the Field* 

Early in the record of both Old and New Testa- 
ments, we find the son of man engaged in the 
strife of faith. At the very outset God causes us 
to know the power and venom of the adversary — 
this prince of the powers of the air, who is chief 
actor in the tragedies of life. We may almost 
envy the obtuseness of heart or mind which can 
look so superficially over the ills of life, and not 
know that a supernatural power of evil works 

* Gen. iii. 1. 






CHRIST OUR REST. 261 

there ; but, at the same time, we cannot but re- 
alize the mercy which has plainly told us of the 
foe; so that, knowing his subtlety, we come the 
more earnestly to the Saviour, who will lead His 
helpless flock to the fold of God. 

Centuries of wisdom and experience are the 
tempter's as he comes to the attack ; yet all this 
wisdom teaches him that nothing can injure the 
soul of man more than that which weakens his 
hold on the Word. Therefore the finished logic 
of ao;es of thought is brought to belittle or do 
away with its power. As time passes the same 
thing occurs again and again ; while Christ our 
example shows us that through holding fast to the 
"Sword of the Spirit," which is the Word of God, 
the great antagonist is overcome effectually, and 
angels of heaven minister to the soul. Our Saviour 
tells us that, even among believers, the one who 
breaks — that is, seeks to break — away from the 
least of these words, and teaches men so, — the 
same shall be least in the kingdom of heaven. 
Meanwhile, the serpent still reasons upon proba- 
bilities and possibilities ; but faith claims the prom- 



262 THE WORD AND THE TEACHER. 

ise with practical power, and takes the Word into 
its daily life, testing it there. The subtle earth- 
born reasoner fascinates and charms, while it feeds 
the soul with hopes which turn to dust and ashes. 

They heard the Voice of the Lord God, and they 
hid themselves from the Presence? 1 * 

So the fall from paradise is failing in allegi- 
ance to the Word of God ; while to receive that 
Word, or hear that Voice, is to commune with 
the Presence. But they hid themselves among 
the trees of the Lord's planting ; so we often 
use the choicest gifts of God to shut out and 
set aside the eternal light, until " our cedars must 
fall around us ere we will behold the sun ; " 
while with the plea of unfitness, or would-be hu- 
mility, we follow out our own will or way, instead 
of the one service, with its true humility, which 
God asks of us, which is to receive and follow the 
Word. The Voice still comes to us in every per- 
plexity ; in every event of life may be heard the 
Good Shepherd, calling, "Where art thou?" 

* Gen. iii. 8. 



CHBIST OUR BEST. 263 

Sorrow comes with its shadow, pain with its 
purifying touch, and toil with its penalties, and 
splendid possibilities : with all of these God tries 
the hearts of the wilderness wanderers,* as to 
whether they will keep the Word. 

The tree of knowledge and the tree of life still 
bloom and bear fruit. The Word and the Spirit, 
whose power and ministry they typify, are made 
manifest to all who will seek, and the wonderful 
fruits of the Spirit are offered to all who keep fast 
allegiance. " Hold fast till I come ; " " for to him 
that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of 
life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God." f 

" So He drove out the man, and He placed at 
the east of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a 
flaming sword, which turned every way to keep 
the way of the tree of life." X From that hour 
the heart of man has turned toward the East, 
where, in fullness of time, when wearied monarchs 
paused in their warfare, the Prince of Peace is 
born in the manger at Bethlehem; and. thus the 
"Desire of all nations," the One in whom all na- 

* Deut. yiii. 2. f Rev. ii. 7-25. % Gen. iii. 24. 



264 THE WORD AND TEE TEACHER. 

tions should be blessed, visits the earth from on 
high. 

As man leaves Eden, with its happy innocence, 
the angel guardians of man are first made known; 
showing that, even in judgment or penalty, God's 
thought toward us is filled with mercy. These 
cherubim, or bearers of the Word, are again seen 
in the holy of holies, where the Word was kept 
sacred. They are distinguished as they who love 
the best ; therefore they minister to man that 
which will most help him. In fullness of time 
man becomes associated with these angel hosts in 
this same ministry, as we learn from the apostles. 
We find from this that one of the truest tests of 
real love to God and suffering humanity is alle- 
giance to the Word, becoming living epistles of 
its power, and keeping it sacred and pure for those 
who come after us in the drifting life of this 
world. 

We see the cherubim associated, from the be- 
ginning, with the flaming sword, — that sword of 
the Spirit, which is the Word of God, — and we 
are taught that thus the way of life is kept or 



CHRIST OUR REST. 265 

guarded for the penitent and for whosoever will 
turn to its light. The flame resting upon this 
sword of Faith is the light of the Spirit, by which 
we may read its story aright; it is a glare of 
mystery or dread to those who choose to walk 
without, but it becomes a pathway illumined 
with love to those, who, turning to follow the 
Voice which calls, steadily set their faces heaven- 
ward. 

The way of life is Christ ; He it is who calls 
us, that we may come and receive freely, through 
His gift, of the fruits of the Spirit, or Tree of Life ; 
for such is the promise of our ascended Saviour. 
The flaming sword turned every way ; so does 
the "Word search everywhere, with its light of 
life, while all creatures are manifest before that 
insight and ]3ower, which, reaching even unto the 
ends of the world, can effectually enlighten, quick- 
en, and shelter all who seek this aid ; " therefore 
let us come boldly to the throne, that we may 
obtain mercy and find help in time of need."* 

From the gates of Eden until now, we are 

* Heb. iv. 11-16. 



266 TEE WORD AND TEE TEACEEB. 

taught of the twofold ministry of the Word and 

the Spirit, or Teacher of Truth, seeking to enter 

our daily life and abide there, to heal, help, 

and comfort effectually whatever may threaten ; 

and if we give our hearts' allegiance, God 

Himself will be found present with us, 

Mighty to Save. 




LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




014 325 973 § 



